From the Ashes
by Mister Smail
Summary: After furiously resigning her job that night in the Rainforrest District, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde go Private Investigator to solve the case themselves. One year later and all is well - they are engaged and have a house of their own. Then comes an "acquaintance" of Wilde's whom he has not seen for years (with the case of a murdered husband), and nothing is quite as it seems again.
1. From the Ashes…

Somewhere in the dark and nasty regions of the City of Zootopia, in the part of the Rainforest District where nobody goes, there stood - in the suffocating and wet heat of this synthetic jungle - one of a number of embankment points to a series of Gondolas.

A part of the fencing had been smashed, the faint impressions of claw marks were engraved on the wooden floor, and the vague smell of wolves, jaguar, and the fumes of a recently departed van. In the darkness, a shrub moved; from behind it, a voice:

"I thought this was just a missing mammal case, but it's way bigger." The voice was small and flustered, and yet assertive and professional as it came closer, stepping through the greenery. "Mr. Otterton did not just disappear," it continued, "I believe he, and this jaguar, they... they went savage, sir."

"Savage?" inquired a much louder, somewhat disinterested voice from several feet above the first. "This isn't the stone age, Hopps. Animals don't go 'savage'."

"I thought so too... 'till I saw this."

The shrubs parted suddenly, and a small, blueish-gray rabbit stepped out, closely accompanied from behind by an unimpressed cape buffalo. Each wore a blue uniform and shining, copper badge - each standard issue of the Zootopia Police Department.

The rabbit looked about at the clearing, her eyes widening at the lack of 'savage jaguar'. "What? He was right here!"

The buffalo raised a brow. "The savage jaguar?"

"Sir, I know what I saw - he almost killed us!"

"Or maybe any 'aggressive predator' looks savage to you rabbits." Her ears dropping, Bogo turned and addressed the officers gathered around them. "Let's go!"

"No, wait! Sir, I'm not the only one who saw him. Nick!"

From his partial concealment in the hedgerow, a red fox became visible, stepping out into the semicircle of officers; looking about himself, uneasily, under the combined attention of the ZPD officers and the intent scrutiny of their Chief.

"You think I'm gonna believe a fox?" the Chief said.

"Well he's a key witness and I-"

"'Two days to find the otter, or you quit. That was the deal." Showing no signs of remorse, the buffalo held out a large hand towards her. " _Badge._ "

It took a few seconds... but eventually the weight of the situation broke upon Nick's mind as he looked from Hopps to Bogo: the diligent officer, and her bullying Chief. He was about to fire her, and for no other reason than because she was a rabbit - because of her species.

"But sir, we had-"

"Badge!"

Looking between them, the fox felt something he had not felt for many years: his hackles were rising. When he was younger, this had often happened as a result of prejudice and speciesism against himself, but he had long ago learnt to accept this as just how life was. Though, for some reason, seeing it happen to Judy - to this tiny rabbit who reminded the fox so much of himself when he was young - caused a ball of black fury to grow in his gut he had long ago forgotten he could feel.

Judy stared up forlornly at Bogo for a shot time - the stern gaze of the Chief of Police unmoved by the sad eyes of the small rabbit. She sighed softly, and then, slowly - very slowly - she raised a reluctant paw to her badge.

"Uh, no."

It was spoken so softly really - inside, Nick felt ready to tare Bogo's face off - but the fact that he had spoken at all was enough to stop both mammals in their tracks and turn towards him; Bogo's neck creaking around to face the source of the voice.

"What did you say... _fox_?"

"Sorry, what I said was N-"

" ** _Keep your_** **shifty** ** _tail out of this!_** " he yelled, storming away from Judy and up to the small fox who flinched back from the sudden volume of the response. "This is a police affair. This doesn't concern you, civilian, vacate the premises _now_."

Judy stared, dumbfounded, by the unexpected turn of events; Nick taking a step back from the towering frame of Chief Bogo - fearful, but holding his ground.

"And leave Hopps over there in the hands of the likes of you? Not gonna happen."

"Well then I throw you into a cell for the night for interfering with police business! I am the Chief of Precinct One; I am the boss; I decide who I fire and who I do not."

"Yeah? Well you're not the boss of me, so just listen to what I have to say and _then_ decide what you're going to do."

"Look," he grunted, " _fox_... I neither know you, nor care who you are or what you have to say. If you have a grievance, than I suggest you take your case to a court of law, and I shall bow to fair justice."

"Fair justice?" Nick retorted, " _'Fair justice',_ what've you done that's 'fair'? You gave her forty-eight hours to solve a case you haven't solved in two weeks! And now you want to take her job over it? Where's the fairness in that?"

"The pseudo-Officer to whom you are referring," Bogo said, coldly, "was, and still is, _guilty_ of _grievous insubordination._ By rights!" he bellowed, "She should be fired already!"

"But what about the remaining ten hours you gave her to solve the case!?"

"She is **_never_** going to solve this case - not with ten hours; not with ten years. Just look at her: a tiny little prey mammal, lost in the woods, blinking, startled, in the headlights of an oncoming car; weak, frightened, and totally useless to the ZPD; a danger to herself and to others."

Nick looked away from the buffalo and fixed his gaze on Judy; he could see none of those things. As Judy noticed Nick staring at her, her amethyst eyes flicked to look from Bogo to him and (though there was fear there at the moment) he saw her strength, her courage. He saw Judy's drive and ambition, her resolve and her raw, brilliant passion.

"I admit she is well suited to meter maid duty," Bogo continued, quite unaware he was being ignored by both, "but anything other than that would be too dangerous to risk. I know I have talked harshly of her - I know what the two of you must think of me - but I am only doing this to _try_ and keep this _deluded_ carrot farmer... alive. _That_ is my first priority - not to be the 'good guy'."

Nick had rarely met someone who could even be described as 'decent', but now, able to appreciate just how special she is, his expression towards her softened, and he came to realize: meeting Judy has been an honor, and a privilege.

"...and if she ever tires to arrest a real criminal - anything bigger than a weasel - she _will_ wind up _dead._ The ZPD is a place where the big boys play - not a place for rabbits like her who would be more at home packed up in a box in a toy store..."

It dawned on Nick how truly lucky he is to be able to call himself a friend of Judy's. A warm smile broke upon his face, and - despite Bogo's ranting and raging beside them - a small smile form upon Judy's face likewise.

There was so much more he could see in her eyes: things, not just about her, but about him. She looked at him like a true friend: with warmth, compassion, respect, trust... Nick had never felt 'trusted' before - relied upon by the likes of Finnick, yes - but never 'trusted.'

Judy's smile grew into a grin - failing to recognize the specieaseist comments of her Chief - as Nick started smiling even wider. His emerald eyes glistening, Judy drink in the fondness and passion - a passion which was a blazing inferno (and a heck of a lot more passion than he felt for himself) - and if she looked closely, and really believed it was there, she could see a little hint of desire to... and she did not mind that in the slightest.

The buffalo stepped between them, his towering frame casting a shadow over the fox. Loosing sight of the adorable eyes of the amazing rabbit, Nick's mood sunk; as did his resolve to face off with the Chief. Meanwhile, however, Judy's mood... shifted into rage.

"So, fox, this is your last chance. Beat it, or I 'beat' you."

"Erm," he said unsurely, "isn't, isn't that police brutality? Ergo, you can't do that?"

"I can if it's self defense." Turning about them, Bogo glanced over the assembled mammals. "And seeing as the only whiteness will be officers of the ZPD - of whom I am their _Chief_ \- I think they will all be perfectly willing to say you swung first. After all," he said, turning back to the fox, sharply, "who are they going to believe: Zootpia's Chief of Police... or a fox?"

Judy watched, aghast, as Nick shrank back in fear from the grimacing face of the Chief. Was this the true face of the ZPD? A gang of dishonest, species thugs? Judy's reached for her badge a second time, her hand trembling again as she clutched it in her paws - this time, though, it did not tremble through fear or sadness, but through her blood-boiling, righteous fury.

 _If this is what the ZPD is really about - I want no part of it._

"And if you're not careful _-fox-_ you might just trip on the wet floor and fall _alllll_ the way down the-" something small and heavy hit Bogo clean across the side of the snout. He turned to Judy, stunned, his voice is devoid of anger. "...Hopps, did - did you just throw something at me?"

"Yeah, wanna make something of it?"

"Okay, that's it! Badge **_now_**!"

"That's what I threw, jerk!"

Stunned twice over, Bogo looked down upon the small piece of brass by his feet. He bent down and picked it up, staring at the object which looked so tiny in his large grip.

"Nick?" Judy called, softly. She waited a moment, and then beamed a golden smile as his head appeared, peaking, apprehensively, around the side of Bogo's motionless form.

Judy cocked her head towards the Gondola pulling up behind her. After a still-stunned nod from Nick, he stepped past Bogo - silently avoiding the Chief who was still lost in the moment - as he left the shadows upon the edge of the parapet and took his place beside Hopps.

The rabbit wrapped a fond arm around Nick's waist (Nick didn't dare move in response) and then smiled up, playfully, at Bogo's astonished expression as it, at last, moved from the badge in his hands and up to the pair.

"We are going to solve this case, Bogo - just Wilde and me. We don't even _need_ your help."

"But you can't hope to solve anything working on your own."

"Why not? It's been done before. And after we solve this case, we're going to do it _professionally_."

"Now hang on, your not seriously insinuating-"

"That's right, from this day forth, Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps are going **_P.I._**!"

"Hopps," Bogo said, gruffly, "do you have any idea how often we get called out to bail out witless 'amateur detectives' who've got themselves caught up in something way too big for them to handle?"

"They didn't have the street-smarts Nick has - or the police training I have. You may refuse to acknowledge it, but I _still am_ top of my class. I _still am_ a perfectly capable officer."

"Hopps," Bogo shot, "I _order_ you not to-"

"Bogo, with respect sir, I don't work for you anymore." Sliding her arm from around Nick's waist, she stepped towards the Gondola. "I'm a Private Investigator now; your orders don't have any power over me anymore."

Bogo's expression slackened as Judy stepped into the stationary sky-tram, turning back to hold the door open for Nick as he stepped on board beside her.

"Now," she said, her voice oozing with smugness as the tram pulled away, "if you don't mind, Nick and I have a very big lead to follow... and a case to crack."

The fox dared not look at the cape buffalo behind him - though he could feel his stern gaze boring into the back of his skull as the Gondola pulled away. He gazed off blankly into the veiled nothing that surrounded them, simply thinking about all which Judy had said... and everything he'd felt.

They traveled in silence for some minutes, with both stood in deep thought - hardly even aware the other was there - as they contemplated their positions in life at that moment. Hunching down, Nick lent his weight on the railing and thought:

 _Why am I even considering this? Doesn't detective work take years of study and knowledge and stuff? Well... I guess Hopps is kinda right, she has had a lot of training already, and I do know this city inside out, but... can I commit like this? Heck, do I even want to commit to this: a life of crime and danger, earning a living by dealing with the scum of the earth and hoping each and every day I don't 'disappear' in a dark alley somewhere?_

Nick's eyes closed, his head touching down upon the cool rail. Who _am I kidding? I'm already living that lifestyle. The only difference is I'll be working on the side of the 'good guys' rather than the crooks. If we can make a decent name for ourselves the pay won't be so bad, and so long as we're careful it shouldn't be too dangerous, and on the subject of being partners... well ~_

On the subject of being 'partners' there was the... _other_ matter. That little thing Nick saw - or thought he saw - just for a moment in Judy's eyes. That little thing he felt - or thought he felt - when her arm wrapped around him.

The fox regressed back to the moment when his and her eyes had met as Bogo ranted at them. Her eyes had been so deep and shown so much fondness. It seemed too much to believe, but perhaps, maybe-

Nick shook the thought from his head. It went away for about half a second, then came straight back again. He turned to Judy, slowly, and watched her nonchalantly as she gazed out at the darkness that surrounded them.

 _I guess she is kinda attractive, in her own way. I mean, pfft,_ he added, as though trying to convince himself otherwise, _heck, she's no vixen, but there is something, just... something about her that makes me keep wanting to steal glances of her, time and time again. I don't know, maybe I'm crazy._

Nick wanted to know what Judy would say if he told her how he felt - or what he _thought_ he felt. He wanted to know what Finnic would say, and how his Mom would react and what she'd say to his Granddad. He wanted to know how the public would react, and where the law itself would stand on this matter. But, more than anything, he wanted to know why 'he wanted to know' so badly.

A small voice broke into his thoughts.

"You did well to stand up to Bogo like that."

Nick turned back to Judy. She had stopped gazing out at the nothing that surrounded them and had turned to face him, leaning her small frame on the rails of the tram. Nick drank in the sight. "Well," he said after a moment, "it's easy when you've got the right cause to fight for."

"...what was the cause?"

Nick made no reply, but saying nothing proved what Judy suspected just as much as saying 'you are' would have done.

Judy smiled. If Nick thought he had been doing a lot of thinking about what he wanted from life in the last few minutes then he was beaten, tenfold, by the amount of long-term thinking Judy had been doing. She knew what she wanted, and more than that, suspected Nick, just maybe, wanted it to.

Nick crossed his arms, resting one paw on his forearm and the other on his shoulder as he gazed down at the rabbit before him. _Well,_ he thought, _I'll have to ask sooner or later - I may as well just come out with it._ "Where you serious about going PI together?" he said.

The rabbit faltered in her reply. "Well, erh... not _really_."

Though he didn't let it show, Nick's heart sank.

"I would - I mean, if you'd be willing," Judy continued, her voice weakening, "- like to have some help form you to see if we can solve just _this_ case if we can, but after that I don't expect you to keep following me around. I know I'm just a dumb bunny for thinking I could be a cop. I just wanted to rub Bogo's face in it really."

"You're not a dumb bunny," Nick said, mildly. Clearing his throat; avoiding Judy's eye, the fox raised his paws and started to fiddle with his tie. "So, what you're saying is: the opening isn't available?"

Her downtrodden expression fading, the rabbit locked her gaze back upon Nick's emeralds, a tremor of hope in her voice. "What're you saying, Nick: that you... you might _want_ to work together?"

"I certainly wouldn't mind giving it a shot," he said, hiding his growing, childish excitement behind a warm smile, "if you're happy to, that is."

"Oh, Nick, I... I'd _love_ to!" the rabbit cried, stepping close excitedly and throwing her arms around his waist.

Nick watched her, his blood pressure suddenly rocketing at the sensation of that rabbit's arms - Judy's arms - about him. A part of Nick's mind told him he should prise himself away from the sweet-smelling bunny before he did something he regretted... but he ignored that thought and pushed it away.

Stepping close, the red fox slipped his arms firmly - tightly - around the rabbit's body, holding her close; resting his head beside her's, allowing his nose to touch upon her shoulder, so he could breath her appealing scent.

Though Nick couldn't see it, a beaming smile grew on Judy's face. She knew by how he was holding her - by how firmly and yet how tenderly - that she hadn't imagined what she'd seen in his eyes back then; that it _was_ real.

Judy chuckled, softly, to herself - her eyes shut tight as she felt the warmth of the fox against hers. _I think the sacrifice of a policing career was worth it,_ she thought, _if it means I get to be a Private Dick... with Nick as my 'partner'._

" _Carrots,_ " Nick said, softly, his arms wrapping a little tighter around the rabbit, "whatever happens in the next few days, there's something real important I've gotta ask ya."

Turning up towards the fox, the rabbit's amethyst eyes gazed into his emeralds. "Yes, Nickey?"

"This may well be the most important question of your life. You sure your ready?"

Raising her hand, the rabbit touched her paw upon the fox's arm. "Ask."

Taking a breath, Nick prepared himself, and spoke:

"Judy... what're we gonna call ourselves?"

* * *

 ** _And so, from the ashes of a deceased career:  
a new life starts; born, upon the ashes of the old._**

 _ **~ From the Ashes ~**_  
 _ **by**_  
 **~ Mister Smail ~**


	2. A Pheonix is Born

Well this story got a lot more attention a lot quicker than I had expected. I would've thought, given the time since Zootopia was released, this wouldn't have had such a good response - particularly in terms of all the reviews it's had. The first chapter of Paw in Paw had two... so thank you to those who left a review (and indeed, those who didn't).

I'll just address a couple of matters quick: firstly, thank you for pointing out the level of spell-checking in the last chapter was lacking - I knew there was probably be a couple but I didn't realize it was that bad; second it seems a number of people are under the impression that the story was to continue as an AU to the actual film itself. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this is not the case. Though it leads on from a 'what if' occurring during the film, the majority of the plot itself happens some time after.

If you think about it, really, the immediate 'original plot' part after the first chapter wouldn't have been much different. After their talk on the sky tram Nick and Judy would have gone to watch the security camera footage - without the ZPD's help, just like in the film. After that, they would've go to the place with the wolves and found the missing mammals - without the ZPD's help, just like in the film. Then, Nick and Judy would have involved the ZPD (because, when you find a prison full of missing, savage mammals and that the city's mayor is in involved, phoning the police is just something you do), and Bogo would have had to come to sort things out (because, when someone finds a prison full of missing, savage mammals and that the city's mayor is involved... ignoring the problem just because you don't like the person involved is just _not_ something you do).

Then there was the speech Judy gave where she upset Nick (which would've been arranged by the reporters who could easily have asked to speak to Hopps even though she wasn't an officer). Nick then left in a mood, Judy went back to Bunnyburrow, overheard the Nighthowler conversation, came back, and sought out Nick to help her with this new lead... (and not the ZPD, just like in the film).

So then the two of them (and just the two of them, without the ZPD's backing, just like in the film) then followed the lead into the scene with the train, which crashed, headed into the museum, and confronted Bellwether who called the police (so even in the climax of the film, Hopps wasn't directly helped by the ZPD) who turned up and did the necessary arresting of said sheep.

I realize this was a long note, but take it as a brief overview of the plot prior to this chapter... on account of the fact this chapter continues...~

* * *

 _ **Eighteen Months Later**_...

* * *

The light of the stars shined, faintly, through the floor-length windows in a penthouse suite on the top floor of a grand, modernistic hotel in the heart of Zootopia. The curtains draped open, the view outside the window being of nothing but stars - the hotel being one of the tallest buildings in the area.

The view inside the room was of nothing but shadows and angular shapes in the darkness. The otherwise spacious room was made dense and claustrophobic by the thick wall of black that lay in abundance inside.

In the darkness, a computer screen shone; the voice of the news reporter - a replay of a recording which was a year and a half old - was the only sound in the otherwise silent room.

"-and, thanks to the speedy work of the police force, the gang of cat buglers were apprehended and all of the diamonds returned. But as we praise the success of the police in one story, we now move to what is, perhaps, their greatest downfall. It's a headline we've seen all over the papers for the last few days: _Treachery in Zootopia's Government:_ a plot which started as a simple missing mammals case that baffled the police force, but was uncovered as being a far greater plot by a team of amature detectives, who discovered it to be nothing less than an attempt to completely overthrow the peaceful nature of our fair city."

Leaning close, the news reader fixed a stern gaze on the cameras. "Imagine the anarchy we'd be in now if it wasn't for them. The police literally had nothing to go on. We have only two people to thank for uncovering this plot, and saving our city... and we have one of those people here! _Miss Hopps..._ " the camera angle changed, and a small mammal, sat on a chair opposite the news reader, appeared.

"Thank you for coming tonight," the reporter said. "I hear that you were, up until recently, an actual police officer who had been assigned to the investigation of this case. Would you care to clarify that?"

"Yes, of course. I was given cause to resign over professional differences between me and the Police Captain, Chief Bogo. The minor dispute grew to the point, I felt, that the case would be best continued as an independent detective."

"And, after being fired, you formed this detective agency with the soul intent of investigating this very case?"

"That is correct, yes."

The news reader lent back, his fingers forming a pyramid of thoughtfulness. "Tell me a little about that."

As the rabbit started to recall the finer details of the case, the watcher of this year-and-a-half old news report sat slowly back in her chair.

In the half-light, all that could be seen of her was shapes and textures - the shape of her bushy tale, lain delicately over her chest; the line of her arm, her paw tucked beneath her chin; the outline of her bare legs, tucked elegantly beside herself as she reclined in a wide seat. She was naked - the light was just enough to see that, but not enough to give away 'details'. Her face was all of shadows, but for a pare of emerald eyes, which glinted in the light of the laptop.

"And you were aided in this investigation, were you not," the news reader asked, "by the fox, Mister Nicolas Wilde, who sadly cannot be with us tonight. Is this true?"

"Absolutely. He was completely indispensable to me throughout the entire investigation - not only for his knowledge of the 'inner workings' of the city and for his help in breaking through this investigation - but also for the emotional support he provided then and since."

"I see. And where is he this evening, may I ask?"

"With the reward money - and the funding of the Government-sponsorship Mayor Lionheart awarded us with after solving the investigation - Wilde and I have bought a house in the Southeast side of Zootopia. While I'm sat here talking to you, Nick is at home, unpacking our belongings and setting the place up for our official opening next week."

"Ah, yes. You're soon planning to open your doors to the city at large, aren't you? Tell me, what're planning on calling it?"

"Well, we wanted to think of something that was personal to us, but also significant to anyone thinking of hiring us. This venture started immediately after I lost my policing career - something I've worked hard for my entire life, so much so, that it felt like I'd lost everything I'd worked towards, it had all turned to ash - but then, from the ashes, this new life grew before me. That made me realize something. It made me realize that, no matter how bad life seems or how futile all your efforts have been, there is always good to be found in every situation.

"So, if something has happened to you that's bad enough that you need to consult private detectives, don't loose hope... we can help you, and a new life can always grow from the ashes of the old. It may not be like the life you used to live, and it may not be the life you expected, but if you work at it - don't loose heart - it will work out in the end."

The reported nodded. "Stirring words indeed."

"And the name does, in my opinion, reflect both sides of what we were going for."

"And that name is?"

The watcher listened to the name. An ear twitched. Leaning forwards, she tapped on the pause button with a delicate, black claw; the image of the year-and-a-half old news report paused, the rabbit's expression frozen in place.

Reaching out in the darkness, the mammal picked up her phone book and phone, and flicked through to the Ps, reading through the names in the darkness. Flicking the screen of her phone, she typed a number into the expensive device's touch-screen, and raised it to her large, russet ear.

...

A similar darkness, a similar place.

On the ground floor of a three-story building in the Southeast part of Zootopia, lit by only the dull light of a streetlight outside which shone in through the lowered blinds... a phone started to ring.

No voice emerged from the darkness - no movement of anymammal came to ancre the phone's call. The ringing went on, unhindered. It went on, and on, and then ~

"[ _click_ ] Hi, you've reached Phoenix Investigations Ltd. This is Judy Hopps speaking. I'm sorry, but there is no one to take your call at the moment because we are either out investigating another case, or the time is outside our consultation hours. If this is an emergency, please your normal emergency services. Otherwise, leave your name and a message after the beep, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. [ _beeep_ ]"

"My name's Julia Andrews, and I am in desperate need of your help. My husband's been murdered, but the police say it was just an accident. I have to see you as soon as possible. I will be calling by tomorrow, midday. Please, be there."

The phone clicked.

The tape recorder stopped.

Silence.

Darkness.

A beam of white light shone in through the thin curtains, filtering in onto the wall and crawling across the room as the slowly passing car which was the source of the light pulled to a stop outside.

The car doors opened and then shut again. The car locked, and footsteps approached. The lock rattled, the door swung in, and the silhouette of a rabbit stumbled, made clumsy by exhaustion, inside.

Lacking the strength even to turn the light on, her head fell with a thump against the wall beside the door. She sighed bitterly to herself, her paw raising as she rubbed her aching head. "Fluff everything," she muttered.

The fox smirked in the darkness, stepping inside behind her and tossing the car keys onto the couch. "Not like you to use that kind of language."

"Three hours," Judy spat, bitterly. "Three _fluffing_ hours spent hunched down in a hedge in the rain."

"Yeah, well," Nick said, fishing a camera from his pocket, "we got the footage, at least. Looks like Mister Pontique really was cheating on his wife."

"The pig."

"Well, she _was_ a cow."

Hopps opened her mouth to reply, but faltered. She groaned, and her head fell with another thump against the wall. "How can you be wisecracking at a time like this? It's four AM Nick!"

The fox said nothing, slipping off his coat and throwing that over the couch too.

"I mean, for _fluff's_ sake," Judy continued, deleterious with sleep deprivation, "we still have to put the film onto disk, write up the report, check the bill, mark up the times ~"

Stepping close to the rabbit in the darkness, the fox placed a delicate paw on her shoulder. "I'll do it. You get off to bed, I'll sort the paperwork out."

" _Nooo_ ," Judy said, sadly, reaching out a paw to the fox and placing it on his chest. "I've been looking forward cuddling up beside you all night. It was so _cold_ out there; it was only the thought of warming myself up next to you that kept me going."

Taking the paw the rabbit had placed on his chest, Nick raised it over his neck, dropping down onto one knee do draw his gaze level with hers as he placed his paws on her hips. "Let's take the day off tomorrow, Judy. I'll run this film into Miss Pontique's place early, and we'll take the day out together. We could go out to the lake. You remember?" he added, his voice becoming soft and tender. "That little log cabin we rented out for a couple of weeks way back when?"

Judy giggled, softly, her eyes tracing over the fox's vulpineous body. "Our ' _first time_ '," she said, fondly. "You know, if my parents had known I'd end up sharing my bed with a fox, they never would've let me leave my bedroom."

"Huh," Nick said, thoughtfully, " 'Judy Hopps' locked in her bedroom. Is it wrong that I like the sound of that?"

"Probably," Judy said, raising her paw and closing it about Nick's, listening for the soft clink of metal against metal as their fingers interlinked. "But then, it's probably even worse that I like the sound of it too. Maybe..." she added, trying to control a blush... "maybe, we could do something like that for our honeymoon?"

Nick smiled, gently stroking a finger of the paw he and Hopps had clasped together, feeling the band of metal of the engagement ring she was wearing beneath her padded hand.

"How long 'til we turn these into wedding rings, Nick?" the rabbit said, her voice soft and unaccusing, but still defiantly weary with the waiting. "We've been engaged for three months already. _I wanna get married,_ " she whispered.

Nick's smile faded a little, but Judy couldn't tell in the darkness. "Soon," he said, and not for the first time. "Very soon. It's just - I - I'm still working on a few details." Sighing softly at Judy's disappointed expression, the fox retracted his hand. _At least I can try and make it up to her, though,_ he thought. "Go one, Carrots, go get to bed."

"But I-"

"I'll be no more than half an hour."

"And you'll come up?"

"I promise."

Judy thought for a moment, then nodded, and turned towards the stairs. "I'll wait up for you," said Judy, sweetly.

The fox smiled. "I know you will."

The mammals shared a soft, farewell kiss, and Judy made way towards the staircase - the fox watching her with a fond gaze until she disappeared out of sight.

He turned back to the cool darkness that surrounded him and sighed. He spotted a red, flashing light emanating from the corner of the room and walked up to it, reaching out a paw to the answering machine which showed 'one new message' flickering on the display. His paw hovered over button a moment longer, but then he reconsidered, sighed again, and paced away down the corridor of their spacious house.


	3. The Promise of a Conmammal

(sorry for the delay - the exams are now over)

[NOTE] I'll be honest, it's from here things start getting a little bit flimsy. The beauty of writing the first chapters of Paw in Paw was (mostly by design) that events all followed from one another in a coherent and logical path. There was the scene at the cafe, then back to Judy's, then to work, et cetera; but by virtue of this story, the possibilities for plot development are far more open, which is a good thing on some levels, but could also be disadvantageous if the decisions made early on do not fit in with the long-term plot structure.

I will say this now: this story might not work. I do, of course, have an overall plot of what I expect to happen - and Paw in Paw had no more planning before I started writing that than this has - but as I say, this story is much more open-ended, and we shall just have to see how it pans out.

Yours faithfully,  
Mister Smail.

* * *

Judy lay in sleepless darkness. The room was black, but for the dull, red light of the digital clock, which had flicked slowly from four fifteen to five twenty-five. One hour and ten minutes. And no sign of the fox.

She turned over again, the sheets pushed and kicked away, the pillows shapeless and uncomfortable, the mattress rumpled and creased. There was nothing wrong with the bedding, but even the finest mattress in the land would've felt empty - like something was missing - to the rabbit.

After a final, defeated sign, the rabbit sat suddenly upright in the empty bed. Swinging her legs over the side, she stepped down from the high frame of the bed and onto the wooden floor, making her way, by memory, through the darkness towards the door.

Pausing in the doorway, Judy reached up and pulled her nightgown down from a hock. She slipped it over her shoulders and paced out, towards the staircase. Her body was weak, and yet sleep refused her.

...

Two floors below, a red fox sat at a cluttered desk. His back ached as he lent forwards towards the desk, his eyes straining as he read the e-mail on the sharp, electronic light on the computer screen:

* * *

Dear Mister Wilde,

Thank you for the eloquence of your inquiry, but I am afraid we are unable to provide a venue for mixed-race couples of your species at this time.

We here at Leasureway International are an all-inclusive society, dedicated to your enjoyment and future happiness. However, some social conventions must be observed in order to maintain the peace in accordance with the 'Public Offense Prevention Act' of eighteen ninety-one and your request, we feel, may be offensive to some other mammals.

I wish you the very best of luck, I feel sure there will be another company that can support you. And have a nice day.

Michel Tattletail,  
Assistant manager of Leasureway International.

* * *

The fox clicked 'delete' on the e-mail, sitting back in the leather upholstery of the chair with a sigh. "Crap," he grunted, clicking back to his inbox; gazing down at the long list of messages he had received and read - and they all started the same way: 'I'm sorry but', 'Thank you for your query, but', 'We would love to have you, but'...

The red fox muttered again. He sighed, softer this time and, sadly, resolutely, clicked the exit button on his e-mails. "Well," he grunted, as he tapped a search into his browser, "here we are: the drawing board, _again_."

Nick's ear flicked at a sound behind him: the door being pushed open. His heart leaping into his mouth, he rushed to tap Alt-tab, bringing up the finished report he had been writing up on a word processor.

The door finished swinging open softly behind him. A small, tired voice called out. "Nick?"

Smiling warmly, but apologetically, the red fox swung his office chair around to face the small rabbit, her eyes blinking up at him slowly, her gown draped loosely over her night shirt and bare, strong legs.

"Carrots," Nick said, his voice soft, "what're you dong up? I thought you'd be asleep."

"I _told_ you I was gonna wait up for you," she said. "You _know_ I wanted you to cuddle me to sleep, and you promised me you'd only be no more than half an hour."

Nick sighed as the rabbit paced clumsily into the room, her head falling limply against his chest as he reached out an arm he slid around her back. "I know, Hopps," he said, softly, "I'm sorry."

"You _promised_ , Nick."

His expression softening with guilt, Wilde leaned in close and drew both his arms around her. "I know, Carrots, I know. I'm just trying to help you, is all. I'm just trying to do what's right."

"Nick," she said, quietly, "we've been together long enough that you don't have to keep trying to do everything to impress me anymore - not that you ever did in the first place. But what I mean is, sometimes, all I want from you is to be my lover; all I want from you, is your arms around me. You don't have to stay up all night almost every night working to show me that you care - I know already."

The fox sighed once again. "I know, Hopps. I'm sorry." There was little more he could say. He couldn't tell her what he was really doing down there until late almost every night. In truth, he preferred it that Judy just thought he wasn't that much into the idea of marriage.

Better that then tell her he'd been in touch with almost every marriage venue within a hundred miles and none of them - not one of them - was prepared to host a 'rabbit and fox' partnership - even the ones which advertised as being for interspecies couples - fox and bunny, it appeared, was just too "unnatural" for them.

"So," Judy said, her voice baring only the slightest of accusing edges, "with that in mind... are you coming up?"

Still holding the rabbit in his arms, the fox craned his head around to look at the computer screen; at the minimized window of his marriage venue search. A moment passed, and then his eyes slowly drifted closed in defeat.

He'd have to tell her the truth soon. Judy had been so good to him about this so far, but if he kept on delaying their getting married for too much longer without an explanation, he was just going to start hurting her - making her wounder _why_ he didn't want to marry her - and then their whole relationship, and more importantly to Nick, Judy's happiness, might be in jeopardy.

But for now, he just wanted her to have a restful sleep. He'd tell her soon. "Yeah, Carrots," he said, standing... "I'm coming."

He shut down the computer swiftly, being careful not to let the marriage venue window open before the screen turned black. The room fell into a soft darkness and, holding the rabbit's paw in his own, he lead her through the darkness, to the staircase back up.

Half way across the room, Judy paused and turned turned to a light she'd seen out of the corner of her eye. "What's that flashing?" she said.

"Just the phone. There's a recorded message on there - I saw it earlier."

"Alright, I'd better just check that. You carry on up."

"Carrots, I thought-"

"You still have to brush your teeth anyway."

"What? It's half five and you want me to what?!"

"Do you _want_ another appointment with the dentist?" she asked, smugly, grinning as the fox flinched and gagged beside her, his hairs standing on end. "Go on, Slick Nick... I'll be about _an hour and ten minutes_."

The fox opened his mouth to reply, but then signed and made off up the staircase, his tail dragging on the floor behind him.

Judy chuckled softly. She turned back towards the voice recorder, and flicked the 'play' button, reaching for a notepad and pen in the dull light of the streetlamp outside.

"My name's Julia Andrews, and I am in desperate need of your help. My husband's been murdered, but the police say it was just an accident. I have to see you as soon as possible. I will be calling by tomorrow, early. Please be there."

The rabbit jotted down the name, 'murdered husband' and 'accident?' on the notepad. She stared for a moment at the 'murdered husband' part, but then quickly drew herself away, pacing up the staircase; calling as she walked.

"I don't hear that toothbrush of yours whirring, Nicky. I will be checking your breath before I let you in bed!"

A smile grew on the rabbit's face as she climbed the second flight of stairs, the whirring of a toothbrush starting. "Oh, by the way," she called, "we got another case."

"Ough?" Nick said, trying not to spit toothpaste everywhere, "Wough forgh?"

"What for?"

"Yegh."

"Oh, just some female. Her husband died recently. The police say it was just an accident..." Her head peeping around the door, Judy looked in on the fix in the bathroom as he spat his mouthful, "...but she thinks it's something more."

"Probably just denial complex," he said, glancing to her through the mirror. "It's not uncommon in those circumstances."

Judy nodded, already feeling sleep starting to settle upon her now she knew her fox would be coming soon. She turned back slowly towards the bedroom and made her way towards it. "The problem is she said she's coming tomorrow morning - early."

Nick grunted, stepping into the bedroom behind her and reaching for the buttons of his shirt. "Just typical," he said. "You make it perfectly clear in your leave-a-message message that _we'll_ get back to _them_ to make an appointment, and half the time they still make the appointment for us."

As the fox's shirt slipped to the floor, Judy jumped up onto the bed and started puffing up the pillows and straightening the sheets. "We had to be up early to take the tape back to Pontique's wife anyway. You go deliver the tape; I'll stay here and listen to the case.

"Uughh, Judy," he yawned, kicking his trousers away, "I may as well stay and listen in. It's probably nothing, but you never know when there might be more beneath the surface."

Nodding, the rabbit climbed into the bed. Stretching himself out behind her, the fox lifted up the blanket and fell in beside her. "Night Hopps," he mumbled, facing away from her with several inches of cold space between them.

Judy lay motionless in the silent darkness for a moment. She half turned in the bed, reached out a finger, and poked the fox in the back. "Ni~ _ick_."

" _What_ ," the fox said, teasingly. He chuckled warmly, turned over in the bed and slipped a tender arm around the rabbit's small frame, pulling himself closer to her until the soft, warm fur on his chest was flush against the rabbit's smooth back. Judy sighed softly, and her breathing became slow and level.

"Better?" Nick said, after a moment. "Erh, Carrots?"

He leaned up to look at her face. A small smile on her expression, the rabbit started, softly, to snore.

"Goodnight, Carrots," he said with a grin, resting his head back down upon the pillow, the sweet-smelling bunny's head tucked just beneath his own, and her paw closing around his fingers in her sleep. Smiling, the fox allowed to take him too."

...

A lot had happened between them in the past year. After solving the case of the Missing Mammals at the start of their Private Detective career, their lives had become no less difficult. They still had so much work to do.

After the Missing Mammals' case, Mayor Lionheart had granted them a large fund in thanks for their help and in support for starting up their agency as a proper business. The press fell in love with them - and the public's interested soon followed - and so, with a brand new, three story building in the up-market part of Zootopia (not a rented apartment, but a house-cum-office of their very own) and the broad coverage the press had given them, the popularity of Phoenix Investigations bombed.

Calls started coming in, day in, day out. Some of the richest mammals in the city came to them for help with dealings of blackmale it was too risky to go to the police with; industrial companies wanting them to observe the actions of their staff and find who was selling secrets to their competitors; on one occasion, even Chief Bogo came for help, asking if Hopps and Wilde would infiltrate and investigate a suspicious location he was denied being given a warrant to legally raid.

Nick never suspected the amount of work there'd be available for a couple of Amateur Detectives (Judy never suspected the amount of money they could make doing it - _far_ more than they could have earned working in the ZPD).

It had been too long since they'd had a holiday. The stress was beginning to affect them - and their relationship as lovers - but just as one case came to an end, another, better paying, more urgent or intriguing case opened up in front of them.

The hours were long and the work was hard. But it was satisfying none the less. For despite all the work; all the staying up until past three AM; all the filing and paperwork, all the hiding and waiting... they were happy with what they had: their work, and each other.

And they hoped it would never change.

Poor them.


	4. Of an Empty Bed

The sun rose over the city's horizon. A band of soft light shining in through the tall windows, the interior of an expensive hotel in a high-rising building in Zootopia began glowing with a warm light.

The beam of light made slowly across the cream-carpeted floor, towards the bed in the corner of this one-room penthouse sweet. A fleck of soft, red fur shined up: a bushy tail dangling from the edge of the large bed.

There was one occupant to the bed - one lump, which moved a little, stirred by the light of the sun shining through the sheets. She reached out a paw, groggily, towards the cabinet and the alarm clock which rested upon it, and flicked it off just after it started to ring. Her paw traced a little higher, and she reached for the glass of water, of which there was a little still in the glass.

Only then did she open her eyes. The vixen sat up smoothly in the bed, the sheets falling back so as to only just cover her bust as she sipped down the little amount of water that remained.

She lay there, gazing out at the light of the sun as she waited for her body and mind to adjust to waking life... and then she turned, with a slow, drawn-out sigh, to the empty space in the bed beside her.

She gazed at the empty bed, her expression empty and her thoughts blank.

"I miss you, honey," she said, slowly, her padded paw stroking the empty space. "I'll get back at whoever did this to you, I promise. I've found someone who can help us; I know he'll do what's right."

Setting her glass down firmly upon the counter, the red vixen pulled the blanket away from herself and stood, naked, before the city of Zootopia. "I'll find whoever took you away from me," she added, bitterly, as she started to dress, "and I will make them _pay_."

...

As the sun rose higher, its light reached down to the lower parts of the city; to the apartments and houses, and to the streets and it's parks. As the golden beams of warmth filled the city streets, they reached upon one of a number of three-story buildings, in a terrace of houses on a wide, city street.

The building was made from cream-colored stone which shone up brightly in the warm light, it's green, tile roof clean and in good condition. The building was sturdy and well-built, and was a true example of excellent Zootopian craftsmammalship.

The inside was no less impressive: from the well-stocked kitchen of expensive appliances and the impressive television on the ground floor, to the large bedrooms and luxurious bathrooms on the second floor.

The first floor - the middle floor, between the ground floor which had been arranged for functionality and pleasure, and the second floor which had been arranged for sleeping (and pleasure) - had been converted into a working space.

There were a number of desks baring documents of paperwork, scribbled notes and files of current cases. There were filing cabinets full, brimming, with information on past cases - names, addresses, crimes, times - all labeled, cross-referenced and double-checked against all other information.

It had taken quite some argument for the female owner of this establishment to convince her male partner to agree to such a complicated system of filing initially, but since their popularity as successful detectives had bombed, and since the major influx of case after case, both had been more than grateful that they had filed everything with such car and clarity from day one, as they could both now, at any time, find any file on anyone they had dealt with, or any cases they had been involved in, almost instantly.

The main room of the first floor had been converted into a consolation room. The walls were decorated carefully, in such a way as to give the impression of order, knowledge and trustworthiness, with pictures of maps and countryside, and long bookshelves of thick, leather bound books.

There were three chairs. Two of the chairs were comfortable, but upright, armchairs which sat against the wall opposite the door in with the windows behind them. The other chair was a wide sofa which faced towards the two armchairs, positioned in such a way that the light shining in through the window would illuminate the features (and expressions) of whoever was sat there.

The building was built with stone and wood which lent it the overall feeling that it 'belonged' there; like it had withstood the test of time and intended to remain. It gave it character and atmosphere, but did not make it feel overly old-fashioned due to the carefully chosen furnishings and ornamentation by the owners.

Directly above, in the main bedroom which remained still-dark thanks to the thick curtains which hung over the window, a small shape moved in the bed, reacting, with ill will, to the insistent _'beep-beep-beep'_ ing of the alarm clock.

She muttered under her breath as her consciousness was dragged up from the bottom of a deep lake, the rabbit trying to cover hear ears in a vain effort to block out the sound before she was woken up fully.

" _Nick_ ," she muttered, tiredly, "shut the alarm off already."

The alarm kept beckoning for her to wake. There was no change in reaction to her words. "Nick," she said again, trying to bury her head in the pillow, "I said shut that thing-!"

She sat up and glowered at the fox. She blinked; her anger shifted into surprise at the empty space beside her. No longer cross, just worried, Judy glanced about at the room. She called out to him: "Nick?"... and then reached over to the alarm clock, shutting it off with a paw.

Her expression wilted as she noticed the time. "Two and a half hours sleep," she mumbled... "well that's just _perfect_. Nicky," she called out, "where are you?"

Judy turned to the empty bed beside her. She reached out a paw and stroked the empty space. _Well it's still warm,_ she thought. _He can't've been long gone._

Hopping up out of bed, the rabbit dressed swiftly in the darkness, only opening the curtains once she was quite sure she was properly covered - well aware of the amount of prying eyes there were in the city and how many binoculars were never used for their intended purpose.

Pacing to the door, down the hall and towards the staircase, Hopps noticed, her senses only now properly waking up, the enticing scent of food in the air. The rabbit smiled, her fears vanquished, as her ears pricked up and as she heard Nick humming and cooking in the kitchen below.

A grin spreading on her features, the rabbit made swiftly but silently down the remaining stairs, her head peeping, slyly, around the doorframe leading into the kitchen to see the red fox moving dexterously, from pan to oven to toaster, as he made breakfast.

Seeing him completely occupied in making their food, the rabbit tiptoed across to him. Her unpadded paws were silent on the laminate tile flooring of the kitchen, and she crossed the width of flooring between them in only a few seconds.

Slowing her movements, the fox now stationary as he removed toast from the toaster, the rabbit raised a very slow, and very careful paw towards his shoulder, moving ever closer... closer... _closer~_

The fox kept on humming and cooking until Judy's paw was hovering right above his shoulder, and then-

" _Ah,_ " Judy squealed. Spinning on his heels, the fox had scooped up the startled rabbit and lifted her off the ground, raising her above his own head height and then pulling her close towards him in a sudden and deep kiss.

The rabbit's started lips, after taking in what had happened, melted into the kiss, and she giggled cheerfully as the fox lowered her back down.

"Morning Carrots," he said easily, as though they always started the day like this."

"Morning _Nick,_ " she said, giggling but trying to mock annoyance. "How'd you know I was there, jerk?"

"A prey mammal shouldn't try to hunt a hunter," he said with a wink. "It'll never go well."

"Oh come on, you were cooking and everything; I didn't make a sound!"

"Well..." he replied, taking down a stainless steel saucepan which had been hanging up above the oven and passing it to the rabbit, "if you wanted to sneak up on me without being seen, maybe you shouldn't keep this place so spic and span."

Looking down with an only slightly-frustrated smile, Judy gazed at her own face, reflected in the base of the well-polished surface which had been hung right in front of where the fox had been working. She turned back up to the fox as she heard him dishing up food, her smile growing wider as she took in the appealing scent.

"You didn't have to do this," she said, pulling over a small stool and standing on it to reach hanging the saucepan back up.

Wilde chuckled. "I know I didn't. This was just a little something to make up for last night."

"Oh, you didn't have to make up for anything. I-"

"Judy, _Judy_... please, I need you to stop telling me to stop treating you well all the time. I like treating you and surprising you with things, it's kinda like a fun hobby to me, but it's a little difficult when you're moaning at me for doing it all the time."

"I'm not moaning, I'm just ~" The fox raised a bow; Judy lowered hers. "I'm sorry. Thank you for breakfast, Nick. I just want you to know you don't have to keep putting yourself out to show me that you care."

"I know, Carrots," he said softly, putting the last of the food onto plates, "but that's not gonna stop me from doing it." He picked up the plates and turned to the rabbit. The two held a fond gaze for a moment, and then they made towards the living room.

Their breakfast together was more than enjoyable and they both felt more awake and alert after filling their stomachs with Nick's nourishing food. They had made it a habit early on in their relationship not to have the TV on with their breakfast, but to just sit and talk while they ate.

Nothing much of importance was ever said at such times, but the simple activity of talking with one another and hearing each others voice was usually enough.

Shortly after breakfast, the clock ticked to eight of the clock, and Judy reminded Nick of their new client who had phoned while they were out last night, and they retired to the consolation room on the first floor while they waited for her to arrive.

Nick stood by the tall windows, looking down upon the busy, city street beneath them; watching the people walking or driving past the building. The road outside was a dual carriageway, with two rows of traffic moving in every direction.

Judy sat in one of the armchairs just beside the window with her head resting against the top of the seat with her eyes closed. She sighed softly, and Nick glanced down towards her with a smile before reaching out and slipping his paw into hers.

"What time did you say she'd be coming?" Nick said.

"She didn't give a time," she said, flatly. "She just said she'd be early."

"She give a name?"

"Andrews? Julia Andrews, or something?"

Nick nodded. He made to reply, but then he paused and turned down towards her.

Sensing him watching, Judy opened her eyes and her gaze rose towards him. "What?"

"I've heard that name before."

Hopps sat up. "Hm? Oh, the actress from The Sound of Music had the same name."

"No. No, not that, this was from years ago. I think..." deep in thought, the fox turned back to the road outside. "It was a good eight years ago now, I think. I meat her... I'm sure I _know_ her, it's just ~"

Trailing off, Nick's voice was suddenly very slow and distant. Turning up towards him, the rabbit saw him gazing, fixedly, at something below them out the window.

"Oh... crap."

"Nick?"

"Hide!" he yelped, darting back from the window. "Judy, we gotta hide - _no, no that wouldn't work_ \- I gotta hide, you gotta hide me!"

Flustered and panicked Nick danced around the room, trying to do everything at once and yet doing nothing at the same time. Judy leaped up from her chair and looked out at the street; at a female fox crossing the road towards their house.

"Nick, just calm down-"

"Calm down? Calm down! You don't understand, Hopps. If she sees me she'll raise the fluffing roof - if she doesn't just tare the house down completely."

"Who is she anyway? An old girlfriend?"

"Well, she kinda-" The sound of knocking below them interrupted him, and he started back at the sound. "Ah, _crap_. Tell her," he rushed, "tell her we're very sorry but we can't take the case right now an' - and to go find another agency."

"I can't tell her that, Nick," she said, incredulously as Nick darted towards a door in the corner of the room, "she might need her help! She's just lost her husband for fluff's sake; she's hardly gonna be on the lookout for a new boyfriend if that's what your're thinking."

Judy stared at the door Nick had shut himself behind. Nick didn't speak in reply. "Nick..." Judy sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Nick, get out of the closet."

The door cracked open - "Go away! I'm not here. We're very busy and we can't take the case goodbye!" - and shut again.

With the deepest of sighs, the rabbit raised her paw and buried it against her head. She opened her mouth to try and reason with the hiding fox, but then the sound of further knocking interrupted her.

In two minds of how to proceed, the rabbit glanced to the door to the corridor. She took a few steps towards it, glanced back to Nick in the cupboard, turned back to the corridor again and made towards it, calling out, smartly, as she approached the door: "I'm just coming, I'll be with you in a sec'."

Two floors below the fox, the rabbit couldn't hear it when he started whining.

...

Outside the front door, Julia Andrews gazed at the two brass plaques on the wall. The first was larger and bore simply the words 'Phoenix Investigations Ltd.' The second was more interesting. It was larger and had, inscribed alongside the words, the official seal of the Administrators of Zootopia, and it read as follows:

"By authority of Theodore Lionheart, Mayor of the city of Zootopia, Judith Hopps and Nicholas Wilde, the joint founders of Phoenix Investigations, are proclaimed as being authorized Officers of the Law and are, as such, granted special permission to make 'police arrests' as opposed to 'citizens arrest', use emergency-vehicle lighting when persuading proven criminals and to be granted access without limitation to all police information and resources whenever not inconvenient to the police force, who are to lend all available assistance wherever possible."

The red vixen raised a brow. _Well now, I wounder how many amateur detective have that privilege._ Raising a paw, she wrapped her knuckles on the wood of the door. On the edge of her hearing, she thought she heard someone shouting in a hushed voice on the other side.

She stood there in silence for a moment. Putting her head against the glass part of the door, she flattened her ear against it as she tried to figure out what was going inside. Retracting her ear with a bemused expression, she raised her paw, and knocked again.

"I'm just coming," she heard a voice shout from the out side of the door, "I'll be with you in a sec'." The voice sounded rushed and flustered, but thinly veiled by tones more professional and calm.

A moment later, keys rattled in the door, and then the door swung open, revealing an image of Judy Hopps, the rabbit Julia had seen on the old news report she had watched the other night.

"Heh- hello," she said politely, trying to hide the fact she was panting just a little. "Sorry for keeping you. You must be Mrs Andrews?"

Julia nodded. "I am. And you would be Miss Hopps, I assume?"

"Lovely to meet you," Judy said, stepping back from the door. "Would you like to come in? Our consolation room is just up the stairs on the right.

The vixen entered and followed the directions given; Judy followed up the staircase behind her, trying not to trip or stand on her bushy tail as it dusted the ground behind her.

"I'm so sorry to hear about your husband, you have my deepest condolences. If he was murdered-"

"There's no 'if' about it. My husband _was_ murdered, Miss Hopps, and I need you to prove it."

Judy nodded; this kind of attitude was common in this situations. "Then we'll do everything we can to prove it."

The two of them entered into the consolation room. Judy gestured down towards the sofa, and Julia slipped down into it.

"Can I get you a drink?" Judy said.

"No, thank you, I'd rather get this done."

"Okay. If you'd just like to take a seat," Hopps said, taking her place in one of the armchairs... "we can get started."


	5. Investigation Consultation

The rising sun shone on brightly, warming the air and the land beneath. As morning turned to day - and as coldness turned to warmth - Judy Hopps opened a window in her and Nick's consultations room, allowing a warm, slight breeze in from outside, creating movement in the stagnated, cool air inside.

"So, Julia," the rabbit said, turning back towards the red vixen, lowering herself into her armchair as she spoke, "are you sure I can't get you a drink?"

"I'm fine," Julia said, reclining leisurely in the sofa. "As I've said, I'd rather just get this over with."

"Okay," Hopps said. She glanced over Julia's shoulder for a moment - at the fox-hiding closet on the opposite corner of the room - then looked back to the vixen. "If you're ready, would you like to take us though what's happened to bring you to us today?"

"Four days ago, Miss Hopps," Julia said, "my husband, Harry, was found dead at our house on the outskirts of Zootopia. There were no marks on his body - no wounds - and no signs of struggle. When the police arrived, they took his body away for an autopsy as he was in perfect health at the time, and came back saying that he died of asphyxiation. They..."

Her gaze lowering, the red vixen's voice softened. Though she was doing her best not to let Judy see that it got to her, it was impossible to hide all emotions. "They 'opened' him, and found a piece of food lodged in his throat. He must... _he must've~"_

"Take your time," Judy said, her voice soft and compassionate. "I know this is hard for you."

Her voice weaker now, Julia tried again: "I left him just as he was finishing his breakfast. The police _say_ he must have started choking on it just moments after I left. They say... they say it was just an 'accident'."

Her eyes closing tight, the red fox bit down on her lip, holding back with all her strength the tears which threatened about her eyes. Eventually, Judy broke the silence.

"Mrs Andrews, I..." she sighed... "I know this is hard for you - and I know you probably blame yourself for what happened - but this-"

"I do not blame myself," she snapped, her tears vanishing behind her vengeful anger. "I blame whoever it is who killed him! The police don't believe it's murder; you probably don't either. But that doesn't matter, I'll _pay_ you whatever wage it takes to _make_ you believe it was murder - and I'll give you _anything_ if you can prove who that murderer was."

Julia nodded, trying her best to pull her self back upright in her chair.

Judy nodded, mutely. Picking up a notepad, the rabbit scribbled some notes. "Okay, then. Who found the body?" she asked.

"Our postmammal did. He arrived at our house at half past nine in the morning and needed my husband's signature to confirm a package had been delivered. He could see my husband apparently sleeping in an armchair through the window and called to him. The window was unlocked, and so the postmammal opened it, and called out to him. He became worried when he still made no reply, and took the initiative to climb in through the window, finding him stone cold and stiff when he reached out for him."

Judy nodded, still writing.

"He phoned the police immediately after, and they arrived at twenty to ten. I was called shortly after that, and arrived at five past ten."

"You said the police took an autopsy?"

"Uh-huh."

"What time did they estimate his death at?"

"Some time around eight. That correlates to when we were having breakfast."

"And why, may I ask, did you leave that morning, Mrs Andrews?"

Julia nodded. "I was at the health spa, having my coat done for a photoshoot. When I heard what happened, I canceled the appointment with my agent, and left as soon as I could."

A moment of scribbling later, Hopps' head rose to meet the vixen's emerald eyes. "A photoshoot?"

"I'm a model," she said.

Behind her, a closet snorted with derision.

Julia's ear flicked. She looked about behind her a little. "What was that?"

" _Oh_ , erm... that was _theee_ water pipes. Yeah, we've been having a little trouble with trapped gas in the pipes; it was probably just that you heard. _Any_ way, can anyone verify that?"

"Everyone who was at the spa - including CCTV footage."

"You say the police called it asphyxiation by choking: something that can happen as a freak-event, however rarely, to anyone; even people in good health. What makes you so sure it was murder?"

The red fox sat back into the sofa, her gaze averting to the light which was shining in through the open window, apparently either searching for the right words, or refusing to answer altogether.

Judy tried again. "Is there anyone who holds to gain anything by his death?"

Still only restless nothing.

"What did you husband do, Miss Andrews?"

"A designer, for Ashley and Barton - a very reputable brand of clothes. He makes the clothes, I model them, and together we do very well for ourselves. Or... _did_."

"Okay, and who is to inherit the copyright and royalties rights of his designs?"

"I am. But the success of the brand I model for - and my subsequent income - is dependent on my husband's ability to design for them. Harry was one of their lead designers. They stand to lose out on a lot of money from his death, and my income as a model is in for a dramatic drop. Killing Harry would be like killing the golden goose."

Sitting lower, Julia sighed. "I know that hardly sounds 'right' of me to put my husband's murder like that, but the alternative reason is to say 'because I loved him and would never have done anything to harm him'. But every female involved in domestic murder says that, innocent or guilty."

The rabbit nodded. "I understand your reasons for being so plain with it, and thank you for saving us a lot of time by being direct." Looking over her notes, biting on her pencil, the rabbit posed another question: "So, the company you work for stands to lose out on a lot of money from his demise. Is there any chance one of their competitors could have arranged his death?"

Julia smiled, softly. "Ashley and Barton is a successful and, yes, very exclusive brand, true - but we are not so big, Miss Hopps, that we need be worried about cooperate espionage."

"Then... was there any disagreement, that you know of, between your husband and any of his associates?"

"No. Again, he was a lead designer. He was well-paid for doing his work, and Ashley and Barton's managers were payed well selling it. He had some very heated arguments with his manager about some of the finer details on a few of his suits - but it's the same story between all artists and their managers - and I really don't see how murdering someone over how wide they think the notch on the lapel of a suit they designed is going to fix anything."

Setting down her notepad softly, her brow furrowing, Judy sat forwards and spoke, earnestly. "Miss Andrews... Julia, you're not giving us a lot to go on. I'm not entirely sure why you've even come here - _yes_ , I know you're upset about loosing your husband, but there's nothing we can do to bring him back."

Sitting slowly back again, the rabbit's expression became deeply apologetic. "I'm sorry, but from what I can tell so far, there's not even the smallest scrap of deviance that proves this was murder. You can't even give me a reason anyone would want him dead!"

"My family are cursed."

Judy blinked at the fox. She turned politely to the notepad, jotted something down, and then raised her - perfectly natural - expression back towards her. "I'm sorry, would you mind clarifying that?"

"My family as an old one, Miss Hopps; one of the very oldest in the country. Our linage can be traced all the way back to the Medieval times, and it was then our name and our bloodline was-"

" _That's_ _ **bull**_ _an' you know it, Julia_ _ **!**_ "

The vixen didn't so much as flick an ear at the fox who burst out behind her but, instead (and in her own sweet time), slowly turned over her shoulder towards him and said, airily: "Congratulations, Nicky; thirty-three years old, and finally, you've come out of the closet."

Behind her, Nick smoldered, his voice catching in his throat. " _Gurh- you t'ke an-gr_ ~" Gritting his teeth, muttering under his breath, the vulpine marched back towards the cupboard.

"There's no point going back in the closet now," Julia said, loosely, "I already _know_ you're here."

"There is no 'curse'," he snapped, bitterly, "you're crazy!"

The vulpine stood smoothly as a flowing stream rolls down a mountainside, turning toward the vulpine and stepping towards him, toe-to-toe. "Why don't you just come here and say that to my face?"

Nick lent towards her and opened his mouth to retort, but then his emeralds locked with hers - her deadly gaze, her twisted lip, her tail swishing impatiently behind her - and, after a moment, his gaze fell.

Closing her gaping mouth, Judy stepped quickly between them. "I don't care what situation you're in, Mrs Andrews, if you threaten my partner again I _will_ ask you to leave."

"Oh, don't worry," she said, lowering her smug gaze towards the smaller rabbit, "I wasn't going to _do_ anything to lill Nicky. He just needs putting in his place once in a while."

"His _place_ ," Judy retorted, Julia's smile fading, "is _here_ with _**me**_ , and you have no right question that."

The vulpine glanced between the rabbit and the fox. She hadn't expected a comment that sharp - or with that much fire - from a 'bunny'. She decided to ignore the fact, and turned back up towards the fox. "Always were one for mouthing off, weren't ya," she said, her smile returning as she raised a paw and clipped the vulpine swiftly around the ear.

Nick hissed and flinched back but said nothing, holding his ear in his paw and gazing at the floor as Julia made back to the center of the room.

Judy gazed at him, wondering what had gotten into her brave and confident lover as he practically 'allowed' this female to bully him in his own home.

"You're alright, Nicky," Julia said, easily. "I know you're tougher than that. Now, are the two of you going to take a look at this case for me?"

Hopps, too busy wondering why Nick was acting like he was, pulled herself from her thoughts and made to reject the offer from this spiteful, bullying (assumed) ex-girlfriend of Wilde's, but her attempt to speak was interrupted by the red fox beside her as he spoke.

"Yeah, Julia, we'll come have a look. Even if just to prove to you there is no stinking 'murder'."

A smile growing, the vixen made towards the door. "I keep a spare key under the third flower pot to the left of the shed round the back - go in at any time. If you want to look at the coroner's report, it's in the living room in the Europa. I have to go see my tailor for some photos tomorrow - try and scavenge what we can from Ashley and Barton. Anything else, you'll have to get from the police report." Julia stopped in the doorway a moment, and her gaze turned to the red fox beside her.

Sighing softly, she pulled her hand away from the door, stepping over to where the red fox was standing and slipping her arms around him. "It's been too long, Nicky," she said, quietly. "I've missed ya."

"Yeah, well," Nick said, his voice begrudgingly soft as he placed his paw upon the vixen's back, rubbing it slowly up and down, "I've missed you too, I guess."

"I'm sorry for what happened."

"It wasn't your fault."

The vixen pulled back from the hug. She looked the fox earnestly in the face for a moment, then kissed him, briefly, on the cheek.

A small smile grew on both fox's faces, and the vixen slipped her paws away. "Thank you, both of you, for listening to me," she said, pacing towards the doorway out. "I know the two of you will do what's right."

She glanced down at the rabbit who was starring at her in disbelief, smiling down at her unsurely as she pulled open the door before turning back to Nick. "And let's get back in touch," she added, smiling apologetically. "We haven't seen a lot of each other these past ten years or so, but losing Harry's reminded me how important we are to one another."

Nick's gaze instantly rose at the comment, his lips parting with surprise. "Sure," he said, warmly, as the door was softly shut, "that'd be great." A small smile crossed his features... until he turned towards the rabbit stood beside him, and noticed her crossed arms and scowling expressions.

"...what?"

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

" _What_ was _that!_ She pretty much just asked you out and you just _stood_ there smiling like an idiot."

"Carrots, she's not - it's not what it looks like."

"Why didn't you say 'no'? She's not even nice-"

"hey!"

"-bullying you, walking over you, treating you like a total kid."

" _Hopps_ ~"

"Why'd you even take that crap from her? Stuck up little-"

"Judy, she's my sister."

The rabbit looked at the fox like she'd been slapped - startled surprise crossing her features. "Your sister?"

"Yep, dear old 'Julia Wilde'. Married Harry Andrews about seven years back. Even back then," he added, softly, pacing over to the window and gazing down at the vulpine hailing a taxi below, "she was the most "

He chuckled, lightly - Judy starring at him in bewilderment behind. "She made all the other sisters _so_ jealous. She always got the attention of all the boys in the village."

" _All_ the sisters? How many do you have?"

The fox fell back into his chair, scratching at his collar distractedly. "Six, last time I was there. And seven brothers too, including me."

"So... when was the last time you saw them?"

Nick sighed, his expression falling. It was coming, the question; he could almost here it. "I don't remember exactly. Fifteen years-or-so would be an accurate guess."

"And her... 'bullying-ing~ness' of you?"

He chuckled, dryly. "Yeah, that's what being the youngest brother'll do to you. She doesn't mean anything by it."

The red fox looked up into the face of his lover, her expression tightening as she thought. "Wait a minute..."

 _Oh, here it comes._

"If she's your sister "

"Yes."

"Then... what she said about your linage ~"

"The Wilde bloodline goes all the way back to fourteenth century - so what? 'Course, we weren't known as 'Wilde' back then."

Judy starred up at the fox, a simple expression of 'What the fluff...?' upon her face. "And... the 'curse'?"

 _And there it is._ "The so-called 'curse'," he replied, sharply, "is exactly the reason _why_ I haven't seen any of them for about fifteen years."

"What d'you mean?"

Slipping down lower into his chair, his head came to rest upon the pad of his paw, his speech flat and unenthusiastic. "The Wilde's have always believed in home-schooling. When cubs are born, they're taken to this big house in the country, and are taught our ways by the 'seniors' of the family until their twentieth."

Hopps squinted yet further. _Big house in the country?_ _Family 'seniors'?_

"Now, just like school, you start off being taught the basics - math, science, you know - and then you start getting more 'specialized' tutoring in stuff like scheming, manipulating, various kinds of fraud, the legal system (how to abuse it), overall roguishness and general eloquence."

"You mean for grandparents _train_ you to be 'sly'?"

"Yeah; it works too. I mean, heck," he added, his voice growing energetic, "look at me: I dropped out four years early and I was using those skills to con two-fifty a day out of people. If I'd stuck through the last four years, it would literally be like having a Master's Degree in conning. That's _exactly_ what it'd be like."

"But Julia's a model?"

"That's 'cause she's hot as heck. The rest of my siblings used what they learned and easily got jobs as accountants, personal bankers, barristers, sales managers... anything that involves the movement of money or changing mammals' minds: _that_ is what they're expert at."

"Wow." Hopps blinked at him, still not sure what to think. "Then why did you leave?"

"Because I don't want to associate with _those_ people," he said, hotly. "Because they are a bunch of waked-out crazies, because they are obsessed with themselves and the stupid 'family traditions' that keep them living like Sixteenth Century Freemasons. Literally.

"As an outsider, I can look in and see how pointless and stupid _so much_ of what they do and what they believe in is. The last few years are where things start getting real serious. If I had stayed, I would've been 'brainwashed' into believing all their 'ritual' crap and their traditions. And the stupid 'curse' idea."

The rabbit cocked her head towards him.

"And, call me crazy if you must, but growing up with a family obsessed with cultish beliefs and a Medieval curse... just wasn't something me _or_ Mum wanted."


	6. A Foul Smell Rises

The air was heavy with the reassuring scent of leather-bound books. It was a tall room, ornately furnished with oak panel walls and a brass chandeliers which hung from the cream-colored ceiling on thick chains. The parquet wooden floor was well polished, but heavily scratched with generations of use.

It was a private library, within the walls of an old and stately house. While there were the occasional 'modern' amendment to the rows upon row of scholarly books, the large majority were ageless, archaic tome with pages which were thin and yellowed with time, and with faded titles upon their thick spines written in Latin, French, Greek, English... books of knowledge and of wisdom - from across all time and across all lands - brought together beneath the roof of one house.

A figure moved between the rows of tall book shelves, between the pieces of time-smoothed oak furniture, past the brass ladders used to reach books on higher shelves, beneath the watchful gaze of gargoyles engraved onto the pillars of the cream ceiling... and to a single pedestal in the middle of all.

A smile grew thinly upon the figure's face, a brow raising softly as he gazed down at the great book which sat alone in the heart of the liberality. His deep russet fur was speckled with gray and his eyes body was slowed by arthritis; yet, his emerald eyes still shone brightly, with the intelligence and cunning within.

His fingers moving delicately; his black claws reverentially lifting the thick front cover of this old and most reverential book, he gazed down upon the artistry and calligraphy this Medieval tome had been penned with, and he took a moment to enjoy the scent of the pages and of the old ink as it rose to meet him.

As delicately though holding the heart of a loved one - for fear of cracking the book's ancient paper - he turned over to the first page; to the first of the many pages which made up the wisdom which this story possessed.

Tracing along the first few words - those words, which were penned in a deep brown ink and written, by quill, in their curling and archaic font - his gaze found the start. His lips moving mutely as he gaze followed the words, he read the first line:

 _"Here Beginneth the History of Reynard the Fox."_

* * *

Back among the busy streets of Zootopia, a small - and very 'sensible' - car drove through the traffic of the early morning. The vulpine passenger turned to the rabbit driver:

"You sure this is the best idea?"

"I'm absolute about this, Nick. Julia said the ZPD already investigated this case themselves, so what's the point in starting again from scratch when we can just carry on on their work?"

"You do _know_ what that means we're gonna have to deal with though, right?"

"Of course I _know_ ," Judy said, slowing the car to a stop, "but we can't let that stop us." Pulling up outside the ZPD, the rabbit turned fully to the fox. "We can't let them slow us in the pursuit of justice. I know they're bitter; I know blame us for how they're now regarded in the city, but we can't let that stop us."

Nick's gaze remained troubled, but he smiled and nodded towards her as the rabbit removed the key and opened the door. "I'd hoped," he said, slipping out of the car himself, "after all that's passed, that they'd've gotten used to the idea of there being a rabbit PI good enough to contend with the police, but ~"

Trailing off with a sigh, the fox rounded the side of the car and joined his small partner on the pavement. He looked down to her, with a small but fond smile. "Alright, Carrots, let's get in there and see what we can do."

...

The glass door of the ZPD edged open a little. Within, Hopps and Wilde saw the jovial and light-heated figure of Clawhauser sat within, talking animatedly to one of the other officers inside.

Clearing her throat - asserting her control - the rabbit pushed the door open fully, stepping boldly inside and holding it open for the fox who had slipped his mask of emotional ease on likewise.

They marched together directly up to the front desk; Clawhauser caught there eye as they approached, and the energy of the conversation he was having died.

The other officer turned to see what the cheetah was looking at, saw the rabbit and fox approaching, turned again, and paced swiftly away and out of sight.

Wilde and Hopps approached the edge of Clawhausers desk, and gazed up at him expectantly.

After a few moments starring back, his shoulders sagged, and he said to them, in a slow and monotone voice: "Hello welcome to the ZPD can I help you today."

"Morning, Clawhauser. Wilde and I are here to look at some information you have on a murder case the ZPD was recently involved in."

"Do you have a warrant to view this information?"

"No," Hopps said, wearily, "and, as we've discussed before, we don't _need_ any 'permissions' as per the act - discussed and passed in legal Government - granting us, the detectives of Phoenix Investigations, instant access to the ZPDs non-highly-confidential information."

The cheetah fiddled with something on his desk, gazing down with his ears low as though not even listening.

Nick took a step forwards and lent up on the table, his expression firm and unmoving. After a moment, the cheetah's eyes rose, and met the unflinching emeralds of the fox.

"That means, _pall_ , unless you want us to file a complaint at Admin Tower and have you disciplined for withholding information from registered 'Officers of the Law', you get on that little phone of yours and get someone over here to help us out."

The cheetah starred blankly at the fox a few moments longer; then he sighed. "You'll need to talk to Chief Bogo. He's in the Bull Pen at the moment. You'll have to wait."

"We'll wait," Hopps said, "that's fine."

His gaze lowering down to the desk, Clawhauser picked up a pen and started despondently scribbling random notes - more as an excuse not to look at them rather than for the sake of noting something down.

Judy sighed as she paced towards the Bull Pen. She remembered when she first met Clawhauser - fun, big-hearted fellow without a care in the world - but, after all that had happened after the Nighthowler case; after all the press coverage and the stories of how 'the bunny saves the whole city, leaving the clueless ZPD who fired her in the dirt' which they loved so much, the PDs reputation had been all but ruined.

It had been wonderful for Phoenix's reputation, but it had left mammals all over the city loosing faith in their own police force - seeding resentment throughout all its officers; Clawhauser - who had never looked at them the same since - included.

Wilde had always told her she shouldn't feel bad about it - she just _was_ better; it just _was_ wrong of the ZPD to have fired her like that - but, when she looked up into the welcomeless face of the cheetah before her, Hopps couldn't help but feel ashamed.

The red fox following behind her, the rabbit made her way towards a room she had entered all but half a dozen times as a 'real' officer of the law. From within, she could hear the commands and instructions of her former Chief as he finished his report. Glancing back at Nick, Judy joined him in leaning against the wall some feet away from the door - both doing there best to avoid as much attention as possible as they heard the scratching of chairs being pulled across flooring in the room beside them.

A second later, the door to the Bull Pen swung open, and the amassed officers of the ZPD filtered out. Some went this way; some went that. Hopps and Wilde managed to avoid detection from most of the officers, but several still glanced over towards them with a scoff or a glare or a word of muttered contempt as they walked past then.

The last of the officers made their way; the door swung itself closed; the sound of their chatter faded. Steadying herself as she had before entering the PD, Judy Hopps marched to stand directly before the large door into the Bull Pen and, Nick by her side, waited.

Together, they gazed up at the solid wood door. There was a sound that grated on the ears - a high pitched wail which gnawed at the nerves - which got steadily louder and louder until the door started swinging open.

Both mammals' ears flinched back at the sudden increase in volume, but Bogo's tuneless whistling ended soon after as his eyes locked with theirs. His expression shifting, his lip tightened... an was pushed... into a small smile.

"Miss Hopps, nice to see you."

"Nice to see you to, Chief Bogo."

"...will you step inside?"

Just like the others, Judy noted, Bogo had never been the same towards them since the Nighthowler case - though he kept his resentment and his bitterness to himself, and made an effort to maintain a professional relationship with her and Wilde.

Judy stepped inside, holding the door open for Nick who slipped in beside her. They followed Bogo, quietly, up towards his desk and stood, waiting patiently, while he sat.

"So," the Chief said, leaning forward on his desk, his hands clasped before him, "how can I help our _-small-_ Private Investigators?"

"Recently," Hopps said, swiftly, "I believe you were contacted by a red vixen, Julia Andrews?"

The buffalo nodded. "Her husband died suddenly of asphyxiation - a piece of food caught in his throat."

"Or so the coroner's report stated."

His expression instantly darkening, Bogo moved to make a retort. He stopped himself as the words began to leave his mouth, forced himself to chuckle lightly, and returned to his 'affable smile' of before. "Indeed," he said, only slightly too 'correctly', "one can never be too careful with this sort of thing. Professional, highly trained police coroners _so_ often mess these things up."

"Well, Nick wa-"

"And _obviously_ ," Bogo continued, his voice now dripping with unconcealed sarcasm, "it's just _perfectly_ natural to 'happen' to have a piece of food lodged in your throat."

"We don't - think - it's murder," Nick stated, flatly.

Bogo turned towards him; his expression slowly faded into a vague sort of relief. "Well," he said, quietly, "that's something, at least."

"That fox who phoned you is my- ...that is, she's a friend of mine. She sought _me_ out specifically to see if I could help. She can't accept that her husband died an accidental death; I thought if even _we_ came to the conclusion it was accidental, it might be enough to convince her."

Bogo nodded softly. "She became very... 'enthused' when I voiced it looked accidental." Pulling himself up in his chair a little, Bogo addressed them, his sarcasm replaced with acceptance. "Just let me know how I can help you."

Nick smiled, softly. "Thanks, Chief. That's very decent of you."

"Don't remind me," Bogo said, tersely; "I'll notice and have to go back to being sarcastic and unhelpful again."

"Alright," Nick said, before Judy could start her lengthy checklist of mandatory, standard-issue questions, "let's just save each other a little time and skip a few of the obvious questions. We know Julia has a good alibi."

"Correct," Bogo said.

"And we're both aware that the only person who'd gain anything from her death is Julia herself?"

"Insofar as we can tell. A full investigation was never required, though I did pull in and interview a few key suspects before the corner's report came in."

"Oh," Hopps said, "who?"

"The postmammal who found the body; the manager of Ashly and Barton, the clothes designers where both Andrews worked; Julia herself, of course; and a few of the staff her husband apparently worked most closely with."

Judy started to speak; Nick cut in: "None of her family?"

Both rabbit and buffalo turned towards the fox. "I inquired; she said she had no other family - and I didn't have her maiden name to search by."

Nick nodded. Satisfied, he fell quiet.

After a moment's wondering, Judy, again, spoke up: "And how did that go? Were any of them likely to have been involved?"

Bogo grunted. "You both know as well as I, Hopps, that all crime investigations can be broken down into three basic components: Means, Motive and Opportunity. In what world do you - or Mrs Andrews, rather - live to think _anyone_ has the Means to 'murder' someone by making them choke on their food?"

Hopps sat quietly, her small but powerful 'bunny mind' whirring.

"Perhaps, I _suppose_ ," Bogo said, his voice very doubtful, "it is vaguely theoretically possible that someone could have jumped in and surprised him, and I suppose the surprise _may_ have caused him to inhale suddenly and choke on his mouthful - but you'd have to be insane to actually believe that was the cause - _or_ to think it would stand up in court!"

Judy spoke up, her menial reasoning presenting a number of possibilities. "Could it be he was smothered," she said, reaching out a paw and holding it over Nick's nose and mouth to demonstrate; "an attack came from behind, held his jaw shut and covered his nose?"

Bogo examined Nick's predicament for a moment. "No, he said, leaning towards Nick and clamping his hand over his snout for his own demonstration. "If Wilde was to start struggling now, I would have to exert a significant amount of force to keep him from escaping. There'd be bruising around the nose and mouth where smothering took place. The cornier shaved back the fur around that area; there was none to be found."

Examining Bogo's grip carefully, Judy nodded. Nick's (now slightly panicked) gaze flicked between the two of them, wondering if either remembered he still needed to breath.

"And if Nick was asleep?"

"That is a definite possibility, I admit, and there's no real proof against that other then that it was early in the morning, he had been busy eating breakfast and was soon to go to work - it's not impossible, but I don't count it likely that he would have slept in those circumstances."

Spots appearing in his vision, the fox batted Bogo's paw away and stumbled back a step as he breathed - Hopps too caught up in thinking about the case to notice; Bogo just not in the mood to care.

"Then what if there was some kind of poison?" Judy asked, presenting the next possibility she had come up with.

"Harry Andrews was not killed by poison, Hopps - let me tell you that now. Some poisons can be very hard to detect, but almost all of them effect the bloodstream; _not_ the respiratory system. Besides, what are you saying? That the murderer, after poisoning the victim, then broke into the house to insert food down his neck?"

"But what if-"

"All possible Means of this 'murder' are implausible, unrealistic, and silly. I have already considered this myself at great length; nothing I've heard so far even _begins_ to sound realistic."

Silently, Judy fell into further consideration of the problem, allowing Nick to take up the conversation for her.

"So, Means aside," Nick said, "did anyone you interviewed have any kind of Opportunity or Motive for the murder?"

Bogo grunted again. "The postmammal had the most opportunity being the one who actually found him, but he has no motive I (or anyone else who isn't completely doolally) can think of. Of the designers, artists and tailors I questioned, most of them were already on their way to Ashley and Barton when this happened - most of whom have alibis proved by CCTV coverage of the city."

"Most? But not all?" Judy said. "So another employee of Ashley and Barton's could have done it?"

"And for what motive?"

Hopps opened her mouth to respond. She paused for a moment, scolded herself internally, and returned to silent contemplation - silent other then the sound of her rapidly tapping foot, that is.

"And as to the managers themselves," Bogo said, "they both seemed very upset and worried about Harry Andrew's death - both personally an as his boss - and all they stand to gain from his demise is loosing one of their lead design-"

"What if!" Hopps said sporadically with steam rising from her head - "What if one of those employees had been paid off by a competing company to sabotage the company?"

"Well it's an original idea, Hopps - it'd make one hell of a story, I'll give you that - but if you can find any actual evidence to prove it, I'll give you a damn medal."

Judy's gaze lowered back to the desk again, all her ideas expended.

Clearing his throat, Bogo straightened in his seat. "If that will be all?"

"Oh - thank you, Chief," Hopps said. "As ever, you advice has been of enormous help to us, and I'd like to thank you again for being so professional and-"

"Oh _please_ ," Bogo spat, though he wasn't all as begrudging about it as he made himself out to be, "you think I like having to tell you all this? Get out," he ordered, lightly, "before I arrest the pare of you for being a damn nuisance."

Smiling, the Private Investigators of Phoenix Investigations saluted the Chief of Police, turned, and marched away to the door.

Bogo scowled at the door as it swung closed. His gaze lowered down to his paperwork - his scowl still firmly in place - and he picked up his pen to write.

He fought it for as long as he could, but then, he chuckled. "Damn scalawags," he said softly, the crack of a smile appearing in his still scowling expression, "she never did know when to give up."

...

"What's next, Nick - look at the house?"

"I think that's our best bet. Unless we find anyone who'd have the Means and Motive to take out Harry, there's not a lot left to do. Bogo knows what he's doing; it's not likely we'll find anything he didn't."

"Uh-huh. I doubt we'll need more than a few more hours."

" _Yeah_ ," Wilde said, slowly, "I wouldn't count on getting paid much for it, though. Julia will probably just say we were wrong just like the cops were, and leave in total denial."

"Better that then we get paid for it but it takes all week," Hopps shrugged, smiling playfully; "at least that means we can start on planning a holiday together."

A smirk growing, Wilde lent forwards and opened the door back to the reception. "After you, my Carrots."

"Eh, just - just hang on a sec," she said, spotting Clawhauser chatting contentedly with another officer at the reception desk before them. "Let's just take the back way out - we'll leave Claw be this time."


	7. Where the Heart is

IT WAS ABOUT the time of Pentecost or Whitsuntide that the woods commonly be lusty and gladsome - and the trees clad with leaves and blossoms, and the ground with herbs and flowers sweet smelling, and also the birds singing melodiously in their harmony - that the Noble Lion, King of all Beasts, would, in the holy days of this feast, hold an open Court at state, and he commanded by straight commissions and commandments that every Beast should come thither.

All Beasts in his land came hither forto the open Court. All Beasts, save Reynard the Fox; for Reynard knew himself faulty and guilty of many things and against many beasts, and that he did knowe that these Beasts should comen, he durst not adventure to go thither. And so when the King had gathered all Beasts to his Court, there was none of them absent but for Reynard the Fox.

Ysegrim the Wolf, with all his lineage and friends, came forth and stood before the King and said: "High and Mighty Prince, my Lord the King, I beseech you that ye will have pity on the great trespass and unreasonable misdeeds that Reynard the Fox hath done to me, for he hath comen into my house and made unholy use of my wife! A day was set whereby it was judged that Reynard should come and swear before the saints that he was not guilty thereof, tho when the book was brought and set thereby, he hid away in his hole and said naught. And yet hath he trespassed to me in many other things. He is not living that could tell all that I now leave untold. But the shame and villainy that he hath done to my wife, that shall I never hide nay suffer it unavenged."

Tho spake Tybert the Cat, who sprang in among them with an irous mood. "My Lord the King, I hear that Reynard is harsh complained on, and should add that in a cold winter past - when food was sore on to find - that I had kept to myself a pudding* I had won by night in a mill as the miller lay and slept. This pudding Reynard took from me and kept for himself, taking from me that which was mine by right. If Reynard is to give Ysegrim compensation for his misdoings, then I too state claim to his mistreatment."

Then spoke Bruin the Bear, who was Captain of the King's Guards: "I think, my King, that it is good that Renard is sore complained on. He is a very murderer, a rover and a thief. He loveth no man so well as himself - neither our Lord the King, nor God Himself - and that he should betray any Beast for the fortune of so little as a leg of a fat hen. I shall tell you what he did yesterday to Cuwart the Hare, who standeth here before you with the fresh wound still upon her neck.

"Renard made promise to Cuwart that he should teach her _Credo_ and make her a good Chaplin, saying to her to comen and sit between his legs. I stoodeth there nearby and heard her cry loud, _'Credo, Credo!'_ Tho went I near and found Master Renard as he began to playe his old playe. Forto he had caught Cuwart by the throat, and had I not that time comen he should have taken her life from her! Sikerly, my Lord, if ye suffer this unpunished, dishonor shall be brought to thee and thy family for many years."

"Forsooth, Bruin," said Ysegrim. "Ye say truth - it is good and right that justice should to be done to them that would fain to live in peace. My Lord, there are many beasts hereby who know of and have came afoul of Reynard's deeds and misgivings, and I say it were wise and no accident on the part of the Fox to avoid your Court, as to try and avoid your judgment thereby."

* _The word 'pudding' used to mean any kind of meat. Tybert meant this; not a 'dessert course' of a meal._

* * *

It was a warm day in the city of Zootopia. The sky was clear and blue as the sea, and a warm but gentle wind blue through the streets.

It was near the edge of the city where Julia Andrews lived - in an upmarket part of the town with two-story buildings which were spacious and well built; with all the skyscrapers being further inland.

"It's this one here, according to her instructions," Nick said as Judy pulled the car up alongside one of the houses. Judy looked upon it silently, as she pulled their sleek-but-sensible car into the driveway.

Stepping out, the Detectives of Phoenix Investigations looked upon the house. It was detached from the other homes on that street, with a small front garden (a rare commodity in a city as built-up as Zootopia) of fresh, green grass and a clean, stone path leading up to the door.

It was a quaint and simple house - appealing to the eye, with white window frames and a green-painted door. All was clean and in good condition, with everything looking as though it was exactly where it belonged.

"Nice place she has," Judy said, shutting the car door and stepping onto the soft grass.

"Well," Nick said, stepping past her and making towards a tall, wooden gate which lead to the back garden, "Harry was a leading fashion designer, it makes sense he'd have good taste."

"What was he like, anyway?" said Hopps, following Nick into the back garden, which was just as clean and well kept as the front - the grass fresh and cut levelly; the flowers well catered to.

"Dunno, I only met him once: at his and Julia's wedding. That was the last time I saw Julia, too - or anyone else in my family, for that matter," he added in a mumble.

"It sounds like the two of you were pretty close," she said, softly. She didn't exactly understand why, but she knew there was tension between Nick and the rest of the family, and that Julia had probably invited Nick _against_ the wishes of her elders.

It was not this she was referring to, however. It was that Nick had gone - despite the resentment he clearly had for them - to see his older sister married. Knowing how sensitive her lover really was underneath, she knew it would've taken a lot of bravery for him to dare show his face after running away from them all those years ago.

"Where did she say this key was?" he said, casually avoiding having to reply to Judy's comment.

"Third flower pot to the left of the shed," she said, nodding to a large, solid-wood shed.

Nick paced to it and reached for the appropriate flour pot. He raised it, and paused a moment, with his fingers hovering above the key. He reached out and took it, examining the space beneath the small piece of metal before replacing the pot and making back towards the house.

"Anything interesting?" Judy said, spotting he had made note of something.

"Only that, if there was a murderer, they didn't get in using this key." Dusting off pieces of soil, the fox slid it into the glass, French door which lead into the back of the house. "This key hasn't been touched in months, judging by the soil on it and the witness mark where there isn't any soil beneath it."

Judy nodded, glancing around the garden as the lock clicked and the door was pulled open.

Nick stepped into the darkness, the curtains pulled shut and the sun in the wrong place to be shining in through the French doors. Raising his nose, he sniffed at the air as he paced inside - Judy lingering a moment longer in the garden, her gaze roaming across the windows and drainpipes.

Distracted from his sniffing, Wilde looked upon a photograph of Julia and her husband, stood together, holding one another in their arms. They looked happy. His expression softening, he reached out his paw slowly and touched it upon his sister's face. He heard Judy entering behind him, and swiftly moved away.

The living room they entered into was one long, rectangular room. Though there were French doors on the one end of the room leading into the back garden, on the other end of the room were windows which looked out upon the front - the room running the entire length of the house.

The walls were painted off-white and the floor was a creamy-brown. There was a large, russet rug and a deep sofa of a similar color. A black, upright piano stood against one wall; a large, flat-screened TV stood against another.

An enclave of around three feet cubed was cut into one of the inner walls and a modern, gas fire was sat within. Beside it was a straight-backed, green armchair, built with a sold wood frame and angled towards both the gas fire and the television. Pacing up beside it - as she and Nick searched the room - Judy noticed a thin beam of light upon it.

She turned towards the window nearest the front door - the window the postmammal who found Harry dead would have most likely looked through to see him - moved towards it, and pulled back the curtains.

The bright light of the rising sun shone in, it's haggard shafts of light shining directly onto the back and side of the armchair.

Judy looked between them and realized that, from where the postmammal would have been stood, it would've been impossible for him to have seen someone sitting on the sofa. Moving back to the armchair, she realized that it was _here_ where Harry had been found dead.

"Nick," she said, softly, "this one."

The fox paced over without saying a word, his nostrils twitching as he took in the various scents.

"Smell anything?" she said, a few moments later.

"Julia's perfume, Harry's cologne, the faint smell of about a dozen other mammals... but since the ZPD came trampling all over the place, there's no way of knowing if it's one of them or an 'assailant'.

"No traces of arsenic or some other poison?"

"Huh, as if it'd be that easy. You get anything from outside?"

"Only that this really is a well made place, and not just because it looks pretty: the drainpipe goes down a bare wall with no access to windows or any rooftops; all the main entrances are visible from the street; the windows have auto-locks; the door has three locks built into one; the back garden is only accessible via the front and there's a security camera and motion-sensor light by the front door."

Nick nodded. One year ago, he would have stood and starred at the rabbit in disbelief at all she had noticed in such little time - but he was used to it by now, and said, instead:"And no signs of a forced entry - no broken windows, no forced locks... if we're dealing with a murder here the murderer's either a ghost or a damn mastermind."

"So what are we looking for?"

"Don't ask me, Carrots. You're the one with the academy training."

A smile crossed the rabbit's lips for a moment. "I guess we could make a start with the coroner's report. You check that out - it's in the bureau - I'll have a better look around."

Nick nodded, pacing over to the wooden piece of furniture and opening it as Judy paced slowly about the room.

There were two wooden doors leading out of the room: one into a small ports leading to the front door and the other leading to a square room - one of the walls of which ran level with the front of the house.

It looked to the rabbit to be Harry's studio and came somewhere between a tailors and an art workshop, with easels and tailor's dummies for a variety of different mammals; the various easels having clothes drawn on them in black and grey watercolor with thicker and thinner brushstrokes traced lightly on the page.

Ink pots and brushes sat in cups of water lay in abundance all throughout the room, alongside scraps of clothing and pieces of material, some of which were loosely held together with pins and lazy stitches on the dummies - the tailoring equivalent of a basic sketch.

The rabbit walked with quiet awe around the room, too caught up with the incredible atmosphere of delicate artistry the room held - the air filled with the smell of paint; the mood of the room similar to the silent reverence of an old church.

She wasn't sure how long she had lingered, but eventually she emerged from Harry's studio and looked upon the final exit from the room: a wide staircase which lead up into shadow - and Judy didn't feel like exploring up there until she'd found the switch. She turned back towards the fox, opening her mouth to ask if he had seen the light switches anywhere, but then she spotted him stood quite still beside the bureau, his expression noticeably troubled - though somehow _touched_ at the same time - as he stood there, gazing at what looked like a photograph in his paws.

She paced towards him, softly. She opened her mouth to speak - to draw the fox back from his thoughts - but then spotted something shiny inside the now opened bureau.

She reached out and picked it up, frowning for a few moments; then smiling as she realized what it was - wrapping paper - and that what Nick now held in his paws was a gift from his sister.

Turning it over in her paws, she found what she had guessed would be there: a small card attached to the wrapping paper with, written upon it in a flowing and artistic hand: ' _For my long lost brother. Julia,_ _ **x**_ '.

Putting down the wrapping paper, the rabbit touched her paw on the fox's forearm, bringing him back to the moment as she looked up at him, fondly. "What did she get you?"

Nick glanced to her, then looked back at the photo. His expression was still troubled, but it was begrudgingly moved by the gift. "It's a photo. Julia's wedding. A family shot took just after the ceremony - and the _only_ family photo taken this decade with _me_ in it."

"...can I see?"

Nick moved to respond. He paused for a moment, looking down at the rabbit carefully. "Alright," he said at last, turning the photo around and handing it towards her, "you can look."

Judy took it, giggling softly. "My," she said, playfully, "what a handsome group of vulpines! Who's the cute, young one at the front?"

Despite his mood, a smirk grew on the fox's muzzle. "Cute, young and naive," he said. "That was about eight years ago now - I would've been about the same age you are now."

"Almost center stage, too," she commented.

"Huh, _yeah~_. You should've heard how much they complained that I was in the shot at all - they put me right on the edge to start with, so I was almost out of shot - but Julia was determined. She wanted to have me at the front, and didn't let the photographer take the shot until I was stood _right_ beside her."

Judy smiled. She didn't have to look at Nick's face to see his fondness and affection of her - she could see that by his expression on the photo she was holding. There were about two dozen red foxes. It was easy to tell those of the Wilde family from the Andrews, for the Wilde's all shared a coat of deep russet much the same color as Nick's, and another thing they all shared was~...

Taking her gaze off Nick and Julia, Judy's eyes widened, surprise entering her voice as she observed: "And so _many_ emerald eyes!"

"For whatever biological reason," Nick said, dismissively, "the children of a 'Wilde' just always have that color eyes. Well, the children of any 'male' anyway - guess even biology can be sexist."

Judy nodded, her brow furrowing. "So, if the Wilde family has even recorded the colo-"

"Later, Hopps," he sighed, heavy-heatedly, taking the photo back and putting it down on the bureau. "This is enough of a trip down memory lane as it is - memories I'd hoped I wouldn't have to remember. I _will_ answer whatever it was you were going to ask, but that'll just lead to more and more questions, and now ain't the time for a history lesson."

Judy took a step closer to the fox, raising a paw and resting it softly on his back. She had noticed from the moment they had arrived Nick had been a little terser and more moody then he normally was; now, she knew why.

"Julia still cares about you," she said softly. Nick grunted - already having feared Judy would try to 'help' - leaning heavily upon the counter, and lowering his head to rest on it's surface.

" _Judy~_ "

"She does, Nick! Look at this present she's giving you. Don't you see? She's reminding you of that time when she showed you how much she cares; she's showing you she wants you to be a part of her life _now_. I know you don't really want to get back in touch with your family," she said, correctly guessing one of the main reasons for his current mood, "but I really think you need to spend some time with her when this is over. She needs you, Nick."

Hopps smiled softly, taking her paw away and pacing a little into the room - Wilde looking towards her over his shoulder. "Now I think I understand why she came to us: it wasn't about hiring 'Phoenix' especially or finding any murderer. I don't doubt she believes he was murdered or that she, at least partly, believes in this curse - but the _real_ reason, I think, is because she wanted _you_ to help her through this... _emotionally,_ as a _brother_."

Nick was silent for a few long moments as his gaze slowly returned to the cabinet before him, looking down again at the photo of Julia and Harry and himself. "We're getting off subject," he said, stepping away from the photo (and the conversation). "What's next?"

Hopps sighed, but accepted now was not the time. "Well... I'm not really sure. This is a singular case to say the least. We've had it a few time now where there didn't seem to be any proof that someone was guilty, but _this_ time there's not so much as a _scrap_ of evidence to say it was even murder!"

"No means, no motive... heck, if it weren't for the fact Julia herself pretty much pleaded for us to help out, I'd've called her crazy and kicked her out."

"So you stopped at calling her 'crazy' instead?"

Nick chuckled, dryly.

"Well, I guess the first thing to do is take a look around the upstairs. Also, one of us should read through that coroner's report."

"I call dibs on the report," Nick said, dryly, as he took it from the bureau. "I'm sorry, Carrots, but all this fantastic excitement is too much for me. I've had two and a quarter-hour's sleep and I'm running on empty. I gotta sit down, just for a minute."

"Go ahead," she said. "I'll let you know if I find anything, but I doubt there'll be much to see, anyway."

"He choked on his food, Hopps," Nick said, shrugging. "Julianna is just gonna have to get used to it." He flopped down into the armchair beside the gas fire, his legs stretching out as he rustled the papers of the corner's report - looking like an old fox in his seventies with a news paper.

"I know," she replied, pacing towards the stairs, "but we have a duty to her to at least try."

"I won't be doing nothing," he added, though it was quite clear he was already close to nodding off. "I'll read through this; then I'm gonna force myself to think it _is_ murder just for a bit; then, maybe, if I think long enough I'll come up with a reasonable way it might've happened."

Judy paused a moment longer in the doorframe, gazing carefully at the fox. "You do realize that's the chair Harry died in, right...?"

"Whatever," he said loosely, his muzzle opening wide with a yawn. "A chair's a chair, Carrots - I ain't afraid of no curse."

Judy smiled at the sight of his teeth - those shining, white pearls of predatory dominance - and then made to the staircase, feeling the solid wood of the thick and ornately calved banister beneath her paw as she climbed.

The rabbit had always loved the fox's teeth. In the weeks before they started dating, she used to sit up late with the fox while the two of them made up terrible jokes and foolish yarns as she tried to make the fox split that wide grin she loved so much - where the grin would part his lips and reveal his shining teeth and the tips of his canines.

They had always excited her - those sharp and powerful teeth; but they also reminded her of what a soft and caring gentlemammal he really was, for he had never used those teeth against her, though he had many times had the chance to.

She knew this was being a difficult case for him emotionally, but she also knew there was little more to do before it was over - and that, after, he and Julia would be able to resume the strong friendship they clearly once had.

Judy smiled softly, flicking the light at the top of the staircase in the darkness, and beginning her search of the upstairs.


	8. The 'Accident'

At the start of each chapter, as you will have noticed last week, I put a reworded and slightly modernized version of The History of Reynard the Fox. I was undecided whether I should do this or not - it could become tedious reading and is not a particularly vital part of the plot, merely backstory of the character.

However, since I myself am not writing it (only modernizing the syntax, some of the spellings and the sentence structure) it does not much on my part to do this. Therefor, I have decided to keep it, but be aware you may skip the start of each chapter down to the horizontal line if you wish - you will not need to read it to keep abreast of the plot.

Let me know what you think of it, and if I should just not put it in.

Thank you,  
Mister Smail.

* * *

THO STEPPED BEFORE THEM Grymbart the Badger, fæstest barrister and advocate in the Realm, and whom was also Reynard's sister's son, and said to them with contemn mood:

"Sir Yesgrim that is evil said - it is a common proverb that an enemy's mouth will speak with the most blame. With what lies do you blame my uncle Reynard? Myself, as all here, wish it that justice be done to those who put misdeeds unto others, but if it were Reynard who had the King's ear and trust and not thee, I should judge it that it would be Yesgrim the Wolf who nowe would be comen to ask him forgiveness, for ye have bitten and nipped mine uncle with your fell and sharp teeth many more times than I can tell. Yet I will tell more that you have trespassed against mine uncle.

"Remember ye a few years past, when you and Reynard came to be travailing together, and came upon a cart of fresh-caught fish? At your instruction, my uncle went into the cart and hid while the owner returned and set back off down the lane, and threw out the baskets of fish behind the cart for you to collect as you followed, saying you would hold them and share them upon a later date. However you ate the good plaise alone and shared it with your family, and gave to Reynard no more than the grate or bones which ye might not eat yourself. And remember ye of the fat fitch of bacon which savored so well that ye alone at it, though which you had promised to share with mine uncle for it had been he who had won the fitch and at great dread for his life.

"Such manner of things hath Reynart many times suffered through Ysegrim. O Lord the King, think ye that it is good? Yet there is more. He complaineth how that Reynard mine uncle had much trespassed to him by cause of his wife. Mine uncle has lain by her, but that was well seven years past, ere he wedder her! And if Reynart for love and courtesy did with her his will, what was that? She was soon healed thereof. Hereof I believe Ysegrim hath done to himself no worship but to slander his wife. Now make Bruin the Bear a complaint also, on the part of Cuwart the Hare. I thinketh that visevase, for if Cuwart had not learned aright her lessson, should not Reynard as her master beat her therefor? He meant not to kill her, but if the scholars were not beaten nay smitten and reprised of their wrongdoings, they would never learn.

"Now complain Tybert for the loss of his pudding - a pudding he had attained by theft form a mill at a time when food was scarce and the price was evil. I say, my Lord, that Reynard hath done nothing more than to steal from a thief. _Male quæsisti et male perdidsti:_ 'it is right that it be evil lost which is evil won'. Who shall blame Reynard if he hath taken from a theif? It is reason. As any other who can knowe and understandeth the law, and can discern the right and wrong, will knoweth well that Reynard hath done naught wrong."

"I beseech you, O Lord the King, mine uncle Reynard has not misdone nor trespassed against any Beast, and that his only sin has been to do justice to Cuwart the Hare and to Tybert the Cat without the Crown's leave. Mine uncle is a gentle and true friend. He may suffer no falsehood. He doth nothing but by his priest's counsel. And I say to you O Lord, that all Beasts might hear of his peace: mine uncle Reynard hath never thought to hurt any Beast, for he eateth only once a day; he liveth as a recluse; he chastiseth his body and wears a shirt of hair. It has been over a year he hath eaten no flesh. As I yesterday heard, he has given over his Castle of Maleperduys to the Church and now dwelleths in a simple foxhole, hunting no more nay desiring no winnings, but that which others give to him through charity. He is waxen and much pale and lean of praying and waking, for he would be fain with God."

Thus as Grymbart, nephew of Reynard preached these words, so saw they Chanticleer the Cock coming down the hill to them, and who brought with him a dead hen whom Reynard had bitten the head off, and that must be showen to the King forto have knowledge thereof.

* * *

The upstairs of Julia's house bore no surprises. It contained, simply, a bathroom, kitchen and bedroom.

Judy searched but didn't spend too long in any of the rooms, aware that the 'murder', assuming there was one, took place downstairs. She checked in the bathroom cabinets for any sign of something that could have poisoned Harry and found only the standard household items - nothing she didn't expect to see; nothing someone could ingest in large enough quantities to be fatal without knowing it.

She searched throughout the kitchen and found all was well-cleaned and tidied away. It wasn't a large kitchen - positioned directly above the studio, as she judged - but was still much larger than the kitchen she remembered having when she first moved into Zootopia. To her, that time felt like a whole other life ago now.

Again, she didn't worry about searching too thoroughly through the draws and cupboards when there wasn't even any indication of murder at this point - besides, Bogo and the ZPD would have already searched the place, so there was really no point in rooting through everything.

There was also the fact that there was nothing to look for. She looked more out of professional habit then with hopes of trying to find something. Harry wasn't stabbed, wasn't hit over the head; wasn't physically harmed in any way. If he was strangled, there would've been busing around his neck. If he had been poisoned, their best bet of finding out would be by looking through the coroner's report, not the kitchen.

She left the kitchen and made back into the upstairs corridor, passing the staircase which started off turning to the right before straightening down to the ground floor, and into the final room - the door opposite the entrance to the staircase.

The bedroom was almost as large as the living room. The amount of wardrobes reminded the rabbit of the shared accommodation she used to live in back in Bunnyburrow - where the sum of outfits and combined possessions of a dozen mammals were kept in one bedroom.

She glanced over the bed which was tidy, well made and built from solid wood. Her eyes drifting shut for a moment, she raised a paw and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her paw.

She was getting a headache. Maybe early-morning investigation after a full day (and night's) work and two hours sleep wasn't the best idea.

Pushing through the faint feeling of faintness, she paced over to the nearest wardrobe and pulled it open.

The door burst outwards with a torrent of clothes - a rack of flowing, floor-length dresses made from thin but sturdy material; in a range of colors and patterns, each looking more lavish and expensive then the last.

Out of curiosity, she pulled one out - a long red dress with gold inlay around its low, wide collar. She held it against herself and stood in front of one of a number of large mirrors which had clearly been placed with this function in mind.

She wasn't much one for dressing up fancy and rarely took time to appreciate 'fine clothes' - Nick always put it down to her being raised a simple farmer girl - but, she couldn't deny, it was a very nice dress.

It seemed that the hallmark of Harry's designs - from what little of his work she had seen - was that the clothes should be well-shaped and nicely decorated with simple touches and detailing - but durable and at least partly functional at the same time; the kind of outfit a secret agent could ware, looking dashing while neck-chopping a dozen assailants.

The dress was, naturally, far too long for her, and would've slipped off her shoulders even if she had put it on. She giggled to herself, softly.

 _A dress that falls of the moment I put it on. Uh, why do I get the feeling Nick would like the sound of that a little too much?_

With another soft chuckle she returned the dress and pulled shut the door. A part of her already knew there was nothing here to find, so didn't mind wasting time like this.

She took a step away, then raised her paw back to her head. Her headache had grown stronger. It almost seemed as though the room was swaying a little, now.

She shook herself and the feeling left - though the headache remained - and she paced over to the next wardrobe, pulling it open and looking upon the rack of suits within. They were all black in design and seemed to be of a similar cut.

Wondering what the need was for so many apparently-identical jackets was, the rabbit reached out a paw and pushed, one by one, through the various jackets. They all looked identical. After a moment, she realized it was not the look of the jacket that was changing, but the material itself - it's thickness, texture and hue.

Feeling one of them had a subtitley textured feel unlike the others, she pulled it out to look at it properly. She turned towards the light of the window, and her vision suddenly blurred.

She dropped the jacket, stumbling a little as she raised her paw to her face as her headache became a pounding throb, breathing deeply as she lent upon the windowsill. She rubbed at her eyes but her vision didn't clear. She stood there gazing upon the floor, still breathing deeply, and eventually her vision cleared.

A part of her wanted to believe it was because she had turned too fast from the darkness of the room towards the brightness of outside - then her 'police trained' side reminded her that this was more than just fatigue and was effecting her before she looked at the window.

She held paws over her eyes and breathed deeply for a few long moments. It didn't help. She fumbled with the jacket but dropped on the floor. Eventually she managed to get it semi-neatly back into the wardrobe and she pushed shut with a heavy clunk.

She turned about and made her way - her pace unsteady - back towards the staircase. She felt sick. She wanted Nick to take her home for a cold shower and a _very_ early night.

"Working too damn hard," she muttered, "I knew I should've phoned Julia back before she arrived and told her to come tomorrow."

Downstairs, she turned the corner into the living room and saw the figure of the red fox slumped back in the green armchair - his muzzle hanging open; the coroner's report dropped on the floor.

She smirked, able to find the sight of the sleeping fox amusing even with her now pounding headache, pacing across the room towards him. "Hey, Nick," she said, softly, "I'm not up to this today. Feel like knocking off early? Nicky? _...Nick?_ "

Her brow furrowed as he gaze wondered across him. He was clearly asleep but it seemed like he was panting rather than breathing - his breaths puffing shallow and sharp and quicker than seemed healthy.

Urgency in her voice, she stepped close and took the fox by the shoulders, shaking him as she ordered: "Nick! Wake up!"

With a soft, disorientated grumble the fox's eyes drifted open. He tried to focus on the rabbit - his tongue lolling from his mouth, his whole body moving with his strong panting - and then his gaze became elusive, and his eyes dropped closed.

It was then she noticed it. Hissing. Her ear shooting bolt upright, the rabbit's head shot around towards the source of the sound - the gas fire - and her brow furrowed in questioning as she gazed towards it.

It seemed to take longer than normal for her thoughts to collide. But when they did, her expression shot wide and Judy darted towards the fire, twisting the nobs to turn it off. The hissing didn't stop. She tried to push the chair away from the source of the gas leak, but the chair and fox together was too heavy and her feet slipped on the carpet.

Pulling herself back to her feet - her breaths sharp and shallow as Nick's; dark spots appearing in her blurred vision - her gaze darted about the room as she tried to focus, forced herself to think what to do - finding it harder and harder to stay alert with every breath she took.

Darting to the back doors, she flung both of them open, furiously. Rushing over to the front of the house, she opened all the windows as quick as she could and shouted to a passer-by: "Hey, _you!_ Call the ZPD, say it's PI Hopps. Tell them we got a gas leak and to get an ambulance over here!"

She didn't wait for a response, darting back towards the slumped figure of the fox - her mind congested, her misted vision darkening, her movements sluggish and uncoordinated - and put her arms tightly around him.

She heaved, and his body slumped onto the floor. Gritting her teeth, she tightened her grip around his upper chest - his arms dangling limply over hers - and dragged him towards the back doors.

The gas which filled her lungs made the act far more strenuous than it should have been, and by the time she had managed to heave the fox's body out into the open air of the back garden the rabbit was exhausted, and she flopped back onto the grass beside him.

There was no time for rest, though. The rabbit heaved herself up onto her knees - coughing and breathing deep breaths to clear the gas from her body - as she looked over his slumped body.

Tilting his head back, she lifted the fox's muzzle to open his airways. She lent in close to his snout and listened intently for breathing. He was, thank God, and she sat back with a heavy sigh of relief. The breathing had passed form near-hyperventilation to hardly breathing at all, but now he was out in the open air, there wasn't anything more that could happen.

Sighing with exhaustion and relief, the rabbit crouched over the fox again, noting his now slowly and deeper rate of breathing, and pushing him over onto his side with a knee raised and his head resting on his paw.

She breathed deep and long as she looked at her handwork - at the unconscious fox lying in the recovery position on the grass. She checked his pulse and found it returning to a normal speed; as was his breathing, which was becoming deeper once again.

Sitting back onto her rear, her gaze raised to look up upon the sun. Her vision blurred over, the sky became dark, the world started to spin and Judy Hopps flopped back like a rag doll onto the soft grass.

A few seconds later, the rabbit passed out. In her case, though, it was through exhaustion rather than gas.

...

Nick's eyes lifted open. He groaned softly and raised a paw to his head. He didn't feel in pain, as such - more like he'd been given strong anesthetic not long ago.

He didn't know where he was or how he had come to be there, but was vaguely aware of a cool breeze and the sound of trees and grass moving. Propping himself up on his shoulders, the fox tried to sit up. A hot pulse of pain suddenly shot through him, and he growled sharply and started to fall down onto his back.

A pare of soft paws caught him. His tensed eyes opening fully, Wilde turned over his shoulder. He smiled weakly at the rabbit sat behind him and said, softly: "Thanks, Carrots. Whatever would I do without you?"

 _Die of asphyxiation_ , Judy thought - but deciding it was best to keep these worries to herself for now - as she lowered herself onto the ground for support, and helped Nick to sit up fully.

"How do you feel?" Judy said, sitting down on the soft grass just beside him.

"Like my head's full of clouds. What happened?"

"Somehow the gas fire got turned on. Except, the flame didn't light."

"Oh. Nasty."

Judy nodded, still watching her love cautiously; keeping an eye on his breathing and level of consciousness. "We both got pretty close to full asphyxiation - luckily you didn't need CPD, and I managed to get us both out of there before I passed out."

Raising his paw, the fox rubbed at the dull pain in his head. The motioned slowed to a stop, and his gaze fixed straight ahead. "Wait... asphyxiation?"

"Exactly how Harry died, yes."

"But, then ~" The fox trailed off as they heard the sounds of approaching sirens, his gaze turning towards the front of the house.

"Look," Judy said, slipping her paw into Nick's, "whatever this means about Harry's death, we'll come to that later. For now, let's just get ourselves checked out.

Soon after, they heard the police and ambulance pulling up outside the front. From their view through the whole of the front room through the French doors at the back they saw a trio of firemammals with gas masks enter into the room, who quickly disappeared out of sight as they searched for the main gas tap.

Seconds later, the side entrance to the back garden opened and a few paramedics and officers filtered in. The paramedics brought with them stretchers and if Hopps and Wilde would be willing to get on them.

They didn't see it as wholly necessary, but the after effects of the gas had left them feeling feint and so they agreed (Nick apparently happy just for the chance to lye down).

The medics took a blood sample and give them oxygen to breath, and a few minutes later, Chief Bogo came in to speak with them.

* * *

 _Quick note to USA Patriot:_ Don't judge a book by it's cover. How many times must it be said? Anyway, it's nice to have you with us and giving your thoughts about the plot.


	9. An Unveiling Darkness

THEN CAME BEFORE them Chanticleer the Cock, who smote piteously his hands and feathers; and on each side wenten two sorrowful hens: Cantart one, and Crayant the other. These were sisters of Chanticleer and were the fairest hens in all the kingdom, and each bore a burning candle and they held between them a headless hen upon a bier.

Coming before them, Chanticleer pled: "Merciful Lord the King, please hear our complaint and abhor the grate scathe that Reynard hath done to me and my children. For many years hath I and mine family bin the target of the fox's evil and misdeeds, for I holden a great linage of eight fair sons and seven fair daughters which my wife had hatched. They were all strong and fat, and must have spurred such temptacion to the fox, for he many times crept into my yard which was walled all around and stealed them away!

"We hired dogs, thereto, who would guard the front entrance, and upon one occasion the fox did comen and make to enter, and those dogs taught him well that he should not comen in, and I saw his fur torn and his skin smoked. I had thought him dead, but nevertheless he went on his way, God amend it.

"Thus we were quit of Reynard for a long while until, not many weeks past now, he came in the likeness of a hermit and made peace with us, saying he was a cloister or a closed recluse becomen, and that he would receive great penance for his sins. He showed me his slavyne and pylche, his shirt of hair and said to me we should be no more afraid of him, for he was so forthon and old that he would fain remember his soul and would eat flesh no more. He then went on his way and we, in our joy, wenten from the safety of our walled yard to play in the field. Woe be upon is all, for Reynard had hidden himself in the bushes not far, and crept out between us and our yard, and came upon us with such deadly speed that three of my good children were in his sack before we knew he was there! We went with all speed back home, tho he stole away so many of my children I have nowe but four! And yesterday it was Coppen my wife, who lieth here upon the bier. This complaint do I make to you, gracious King: have pity upon mine great and unreasonable damage and the loss of my fair children!"

Stepping fast between the King and the Cock came Grimbart the Badger, whom was fearful for that which might comen to his uncle and hoped to make good this complaint against him. "O Lord the King, do not ye listen to the lies of the Cock. Mine uncle is truly a man of the cloth! It is the Cock's wife who is at fault. For many years she hath desired to lye with mine uncle, but he was always too gracious and respectful to her wedlock to agree. Sir Chanticleer heard of her unholy desires, and murdered her! as a lesson for her ill faith and with a mind of accusing mine uncle Reynard with the deed!"

But tho he was cut off from his speech, for the great Lion, King of All Beasts, stood from his high and mighty throne with his taloned staff of office in his hand, and made stern rebuke to the Badger: "Sir Grimbart, with what villainous deceits do you now accuse Sir Cock? I hear well of the doings of this 'recluse' your Reynard, and knowe that this is all fraud and wickedness. Sikerly, your tongue is as black and twisted as that of the fox. Master Bruin, Noble Captain of my Guard, take this Badger and lock him somewhere his false lies can no more deceive us."

So was Grimbart the Badger, Reynard's sister's son, removed from the King's Court, and the King made promise to Chanticleer that his plea had bin enough, and that Reynard would be brought to his Court, by force if needed, and made to answer to all the misdeeds he so had doneth.

Tho began they Placebo domino, with the verses that be so long that if I should say them here they would be too long. When this vigil was done and Lady Coppen was laid in a pit with a stone of polished marble above her, Bruin the Bear was Summoned to the King.

"Sir Bruin, you are the strongest of all my guard. It is my wish that ye will seekth out this false pretender at his Castle of Maleperduys, and have him comen to my Court forto answer for his misdeeds. But see well to yourself, for Reynard is a shrew and fell creature, and knoweth so many wiles that he shall lie and flatter, and shall think only how he may beguile, deceive and bring you to some mockery."

Then said Bruin: "What? Good Lord, let it alone! Deceiveth me the Fox hath before, so I have well learned my casus. I put it that he shall comen too late to mock me!" Thus departed Bruin merrily from thence, but it is to dread that he came not so merrily again.

* * *

"Nick, would you please just put the mask back on?"

"I told you, Carrots, I'm not even-"

"Please..."

The fox rolled his eyes playfully at the rabbit's concern, leaning back against the metal wall as he sat upon the bed in the ambulance, and putting the oxygen mask back over his muzzle.

Judy smiled at him, softly, as she took another deep breath from her's. "We don't know if that gas might've had toxic properties," she added. "We'd better just keep doing what the doctor asked until she gets back with our blood tests."

"I'm a nurse, not a doctor," came a voice from behind them, as a white-coated hare stepped into the back of the ambulance, adjusting a pare of black-rimmed glasses as she skim-read a page. "And there's nothing in your blood which shouldn't be there. My advice would be to keep breathing the oxygen for now, take it easy for about half an hour, and try to avoid being gassed in the future."

Judy chuckled, dryly - unsure if this was a genuine comment or humor. "Well, it wasn't exactly intentional. It didn't even-"

"Smell of gas?" came a third voice - a larger, deeper voice - as the figure of a cape buffalo appeared at the door, blocking the light from outside.

Judy's attention turned to Bogo; the hare slipping quietly from the room. "No, I never smelt anything. And it should smell of rotten eggs - they put mercaptan into the natural gas exactly for-"

"I am aware of the properties of natural gas, Miss Hopps," Bogo said, tiresomely. "I'd be more concerned about where this strain of gas came from."

"What do you mean this 'strain'?"

"Don't get excited, it's no different from normal natural gas" Bogo amended, "but as you said, it shoud've had a strong odor of rotting eggs with it. The lack of said smell suggests to me that the source of that gas was from somewhere 'within' the house - if it had been from the mains (like it's supposed to be) it would have also had the smell."

"Have your officers found the source yet?"

"Not yet. But the fire brigade are stripping back the nearby walls to follow the gas pipes as we speak. This is something like what we're looking for," he said, nudging the oxygen canister Judy was occasionally breathing from with his foot.

"Also," the rabbit added, "when I tried turning the nobs to switch the gas off, nothing seemed to happen."

"There's a simple reason for that: they'd been broken off and reattached. They still look and act like working dials, but they have no impact on the workings of the fire."

"Are you saying they were... sabotaged?"

"That's a serious word, Hopps."

"Murder is a serious matter." Bogo turned slowly to the fox, who was gazing at him levelly over his gas mask. "Come on, Chief, the mains gas supply swapped with an odorless substitute; the dials broken off and put back to look exactly how they should? You have to reconsider how Harry died."

"Gas can cause asphyxiation," Judy chimed in. "He was found with food in his neck, yes, but he was eating breakfast at the time, and it's not unlikely he could've passed out with a piece of food still in his throat."

"And would he not have noticed when gas had started filling the room? When the blurred vision and shortness of breath had taken him?"

"Being sat right next to it, it would've have taken long for the gas to knock him out. And when I started feeling sick, I just assumed it was tiredness or the onset of an illness or something. I didn't start really 'worrying' until I found I couldn't wake Nick up."

"But you said to me, when I arrived, that it was the gas fire which was leaking; that you had heard the hissing sound coming from it. Would Harry Andrews not have heard the same thing?"

"The sound of the hissing was very slight," Hopps said. "No disrespect to him, but I don't think Nick would've heard it."

"Wilde, do you agree to that comment?"

"I uh... I'm not sure. I nodded off before it started, but I judge Hopps' opinion."

"Nodded off? I don't know how Hopps puts up with you."

"I - well, I was sat down and reading the coroner's report at the time! Plus we were out late, didn't get a lot of sleep and-"

"Your personal life doesn't interest me Wilde - no offence, but we have more pressing matters as of now. Did you find anything of note in the report? Do you concur with our findings?"

"It pretty much looked like you guys were right; that Harry died of choking. 'Couse, now we've found out about this whole gas thing, that puts a new angle on-"

"I wonder..."

Pausing, both males turned to the rabbit as she trailed off into silence, gazing in deep thought into nothing. Bogo glanced towards Nick with a questioning expression, and then the fox spoke, jolting her from her thoughts: "What is it?"

"Oh. Just, erm... well, someone had to switch it from the mains to an alternative supply, and that someone must have needed quite a while to do it and would've needed tools to strip back and reaper the walls! I just wondered if whoever put the alternative gas in was there for a 'legitimate' reason - maybe they said they were servicing the boilers or were with the local council or something - and convinced Harry to let them have access to his house for the few hours they would've needed."

Bogo nodded, slowly. "Good work. I'll have some officers search the house for boiler recites, paperwork regarding that matter or something."

"Chief, don't trouble yourself," Judy said, softly. "Me and Nick had better go tell Julia what we've found anyway - we'll ask her then

Bogo nodded towards her. "Thank you. Now, if that will be all," he said, turning away from them and pacing down the hydraulic ramp in the back of the van.

He paused at the door out, just within the shadow of the ambulance, and turned to the fox and rabbit and said: "Did either of you feel dizzy or nauseous to start with? Or was it only some time after going in?"

"I felt fine," said Hopps. "I only started feeling the effects after we'd finished searching downstairs and most of the upstairs. It must have been at least quarter of an hour before felt groggy."

"Wilde?"

"I was already tired," Nick said. "I sat down just in front of the fire about ten minutes after going in and probably fell asleep pretty much straight away. Sorry I can't be more helpful - I wasn't even aware of what'd happened until Hopps woke me up again."

Bogo nodded, sternly. "I will have my officers investigate the timer settings." He saluted the detectives of Phoenix Investigations, turned, and marched away.

Judy smiled and turned back towards the fox. Her smile faded as she noticed his thoughtful expression. "What?"

"You know, Carrots... it's a funny thing to have your gas fire's timer switched on in the middle of summer."

"Yeah, and to have it set to go off first thing in the morning. There's clearly something going on here. Now come on," she added, "back to your oxygen."

"Arh, but Fluff, I'm all oxygen-enated out."

...

A few short miles away from the scene at Julia's house, a red vixen stood in the center of a cool and shaded room. She stood motionlessly upright with her arms outstretched either side, her outfit replaced with a long piece of deep-turquoise.

It hung loosely about her shoulders and arms, and draped down low onto the wood floor. The material was saggy and shapeless on her curvaceous, vulpine body.

The female sighed slowly as she gazed at nothing straight ahead. Her mind elsewhere, she barely half-noticed as the material tightened about her chest, tucking closer under her arms and pulling closer to the shape of her body; taking on her feminine form.

Her gaze lowered as her thoughts turned from one thing to another - from one cherished memory to the next - and her outstretched arms sagged a little as the elderly beaver stood upon the wooden stool behind her was about to pin the material up.

"Please," she said, "you really must keep your arms straight."

"I'm sorry," Julia replied, raising her arms once again. "I'm sorry, I'm just... I'm really not-"

"I understand, my girl," the elderly beaver said, leaning delicately out towards her pulling tight the material across her arm, pinning it in place. "The loss of a loved one is always a hard thing to bare. I remember when I lost my husband, it took me weeks, months to get back on my feet."

The vixen nodded, quietly listening to the beaver. She had known Jenifer Barton for many years now. It had been working with her and Martin Ashley she had first met her husband.

Martin was a much younger and more enthusiastic mammal, and it was him who was the energy and passion of 'Ashley and Barton's'. Jenifer, however, was a much slower, kinder-heated mammal. No matter what was happening she had time to sit and talk to any who needed someone to speak to, and she always seemed to have solid and wordy wisdom to impart.

"You never recover fully," she continued, sucking the tip of a piece of thread to turn the frayed end into a point and slipping it with dexterous fingers through the small eye of a needle, "but we must do what we can to carry on."

"What will happen to the company?"

"Hmm. The future is as uncertain as it always is, my girl," she said, softly. "We still have some of your dear Husband's designs we can create from, but he was such a great designer - and such a very dear mammal - I'm not sure I even want to carry on much longer without him."

"You're retiring?"

The beaver smiled warmly, biting through the end of the thread and examining the cut and shape of the dress's sleeve. "I am an old mammal, my dear. My bones ache and I feel arthritis coming in my fingers. I can't do this much longer, my girl."

"What about Martin?"

"He is a young fellow with the sprig of youth still in him. He'll have no problem finding another branch to take him; he may even take over the company himself." The badger's nimble fingers paused, and she turned to nothing in thought.

"I think," she added, quietly, to herself... "I think it would be right if he should make you a partner in the company. I'll talk to him about it, and make it a condition when I leave."

"Oh, Jen," Julia said, fondly, "that's so sweet of you, but you really don't have to do-" With a soft buzz in her pocket, Julia's phone started to ring. She sighed, softly. "I'd really better get that, Jen. I've hired detectives to look into the case - it might be them with news."

"Go ahead, my dear," the beaver said, stepping down from her little ladder and walking with a hunch towards the kitchen. "Nothing should come in the way of taking care of family. Nothing."

The red fox smiled towards the elderly seamstress, fishing her phone out of her pocket through the dangling drapes of unsown material, checking the number and drawing it to her ear. "Nick?"

"Hopps, actually. If you'd rather speak with your brother I'll completely understand."

"Don't trouble yourself. Nicky seems to like you," she added, lightly; "maybe I should get to know you better to."

"Thanks. There've been some new developments in the case involving your husband - it's looking like it might be more suspicious than before. If you're free, Wilde and I could do with coming to talk to you."

"Well, I'll have to check if that's okay with Mrs Barton before-"

"No, no - not at all, my dear, not at all," she called faintly from the other room.

"I'm at Ashly and Barton's main tailory. You can find the address in the blue Filofax in the bureau."

"Oh - I got it - thanks!"

The red fox passed the phone from paw to the other and held it against her other ear. "Nick get his photo?" she said, softly.

Judy turned towards the fox, smiling fondly at him through the window as he talked to one of the officers. "Yeah. He didn't say anything, but it meant a lot to him - I could tell."

"For you to be able to 'tell' when something has affected him, the two of you really must be close."

Turning down to her paw which was resting on the surface of the wooden bureau, the rabbit grinned, gazing down at her engagement ring. "Yep. You could say that alright."

"I look forward to hearing more," Julia said. "I'll see you in ten?"

"We'll be there. Thanks, Julia."

"Drive safely."

The vixen slipped the phone back into her pocket, turning towards the kitchen as the slightly hunched figure of the beaver returned to the room, carrying a tray with a large teapot and several cups and saucers. "Your friends coming over to see you, are they?"

"Yes, Jenifer, they'll be here in a few minutes."

"Good. Good. It'll be nice to have some company for a while. Come 'ere, my dear; let me help you out of that dress. It should be finished by next week - coming on lovely it is too."


	10. Tailored Investigations

SO CAME BRUIN the Bear over the many miles which bade to be crossed as to reach the fox at his Castle of Maleperduys, which stoodeth by the high mountains and beside the clear lake. The Fox had many a dwelling-place, but none so best and fast as Maleperduys, and was where he came whenever he was in any dread or fear.

Now came Bruin to the gate which he found shut, and sat upon his tail and called: "Reynart, be ye at home? I am Bruin, Captain of the King's Guard. The King hath sent me for that you should come to Court and plead your cause. He hath sworn there by God that should you not comen it shall cost ye your life. He shall hang you or set you on the rack. Reynart, do by my counsel, and come to the Court."

Reynard the Fox lay close by in the warmth of the sun outside as he oft did on days warm as this. When he heard Bruin's call, he drew quickly from his sleep and the fox made quickly inward into his hole. For Maleperduys was fool of holes, here one hole and there another, narrow, crooked and long, with secret rooms and doors and exits which he could open and shut when he had need, forto he had many times ran to his secret chambers when chased by enemies that sought him tho as they could not find him as he did to do now so to have time to think for his reply.

Tho in time he came tofor the gate and opened it, and the light of the sun shone down upon his rich russet coat and sparked a gleam in his sharp green eyes as he said: "My dear friend Bruin, ye be most welcome. This is a great wonder that ye should come to see one so lowly as I, for next to the King ye be the most gentle and richest of levies and of land and I prey you forgive me for keeping you waiting without the gate - I heard thee call, but I was in mine Evensong."

"Reynart, you call me friend at an ill time. The King and his subjects are upon you and have many complaints to make. He has it that you would come now to his Court where you can face judgment and trial. Your flattering words will find me not moved, for I shall naught be discouraged nor distracted from bringing you this instant to the King's Court therefor."

"Dear Eme*, be this all you came to me to say? It is shameful of the King to send you over this long hill for such a slight purpose, for I see ye be weary that the sweat runneth down your cheeks and I con the King no thanks that he could not have found a lesser messenger but to send for you. I had full intent to comen to the Court and would well go there with you now, but I fear that I shall not be able to go so far as Bunnyburrow for all the fresh food I have eatern. And because the meet was so sweet I ate all the more."

"Reynart, what was this food which maketh you so full?"

"It was but simple food. A poor man is no lord, that ye may know. We poor folk must eat oftentimes such we would gladly not eat if we had better. They were but simple honeycombs; but have made my belly so great I can nowhere endure."

"Alas, Reynart, what say ye! Set ye so little by honey? Me ought to prize and love it above all meat. Eme Reynart, do to me a great dead and help me comen by this honey and I shall be a true friend to you as long as I live."

"Nay, friend," spoke Reynard joviously, "ye surely jape with me."

"So help me God, Reynart, I do not. I should not gladly jape with you. It is earnest that I love honey so well. Had I all the honey that is between we and Portugal I could eat it all alone!"

Upon the long muzzle of the fox, a large smile started to form. "Then let us go at a good pace, and ye shall follow and shall eat so much honey as shall be the death of ye." _And when the honey leaves you in death_ , thought the fox, _who then shall the King send to fetch me? And by what tricks will I deceive and misdo thence?_

* _Pronounced 'em' like 'them', the word 'Eme' means cousin and is an honorific used by Reynard to create a false sense of familiarity and closeness with Bruin_.

* * *

Ashly and Barton's tailory was only a short walk from Julia's house; and Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps had decided to walk the distance - both to enjoy the warm sun and cool breeze of the day, and to help clear out the lingering feeling of tightness and stagnant air in their chest - breathing the cool air as they walked.

"How're you feeling now," Hopps said, turning the corner to the next street as they walked.

"Just fine, Carrots," he said, brightly. "The sun's shining, the birds are sinning... and the company is second to none."

"You know what I mean," she said, smiling. "How's your breathing?"

"Oh, fine Hopps. You?"

"I feel better now we're out and walking - I felt like just collapsing and sleeping in the garden before. That'd be heaven right about now, actually - the warm sun, the soft grass..."

"Hopefully now we've given them grounds to suspect an actual murder here, the Chief will have his officers take another look into Harry's death. After that, we'll let the PD take over the investigation; we can make a start on that holiday of ours."

"It's been a while since we've been to see my parents," Judy mentioned a few moments later. "Do you think a week or two over at the farm would be okay?"

" _Hmm._ A sea of bunnies to wade through, long days of hard labor, early starts, out working in all weather, dozen of kids trying to pull my tail, no space for any intimacy between us-"

"Warm evenings spent looking at the stars?" Hopps added, looking up towards him fondly. "Long walks through fields of swaying wheat? A few weeks spent living a simpler life then in the city?"

"Bonnie's cooking," he added, slyly.

Hopps snorted. "If that's what does it for you, _fine_. We'll forget about the romantic evenings out in the fields; you can spend your nights in the company of a box of blueberries instead."

"If you wanna give your fox a _real_ treat," he said, leaning down to her ear conspiratorially, "why not take me own to the blueberry patch one night and make out with me among the shrubs; let me gorge myself on sweet bunny _and_ juicy blueberries at the same time."

Judy turned with a grin towards the smirking fox and shoved him sharply in the chest, overbalancing him just a little as she picked up speed and jogged towards the entrance of Ashly and Barton's Tailory.

The rabbit reached the door and rose a paw to knock, holding back a few moments while she waited for her foxey-friend to catch up, adjust his tie, and slid into a casual stance.

She knocked clearly on the small wooden door (it was still oversized for Judy, but looked to be the right height for a wolf-sized mammal rather than something too large), and it was pulled open a few moments later by a somewhat elderly badger, who peered up at the rabbit, brightly.

"Good morning," she said, politely, her voice slow and carefully considered. "You must be Mrs Andrew's friends. Do come in."

"Thank you," said Judy, following the slightly hunched figure as she turned slowly and made back inside. "And you are?"

"Jenifer Barton, co-founder of Ashly and Barton's."

"You started up this place?"

"Oh, I was a younger girl back then," she said, making through the front area to a back room. "I started it up with Bethany Ashly donkey's years ago now. When she died she left it to her son, Michel, who now runs the business with me."

"And when did you first hire Harry Andrews?"

The beaver paused behind a blanket hung over a door frame to act as a door, sighing softly to herself as she turned towards them. "Oh, many years ago now: that's when Ashly and Barton's really started getting noticed, my dear. Oh, what an eye - what an eye that fellow had! Art in motion, my dear girl. Art in motion were his suits and dresses and shirts... but alas, dust to dust, it is no more. So comes to all of us, in time."

The rabbit glanced up to her fiancé at these words as Barton reached out an arm and pushed aside the material covering the door frame. From behind it was reviled the sight of a red-furred vixen, who stood upright in the center of the room, looking out with a raised brow towards the trio as they stepped inside.

The fox kept his expression neutral for a few moments, but then a warm smile spread across his muzzle. Her raised brow softening to a slight smile of her own, she nodded her head towards the fox in greeting, before lowering her gaze and saying: "Been keeping an eye on Nicky, Miss Hopps?"

"I've been doing my best," she said, openly. "Give me credit, It takes a lot of work to keep him in check."

Julianna chuckled lightly as she lowered herself into one of the old, wooden chairs with faded padding and stiff backs, curling her tail around her legs which were exposed beneath a dark dress which went to just below her knee as she sat.

"So, did the two of you find anything?"

Nick drew his gaze back from looking at her tail. "Yeah, I'll say. I'm not sure really how to tell ya this, but it's looking kinda like you might be right."

"The curse?"

" _No,_ not _that_..." he said, almost spitting the words, "it's looking like Harry's death might not have been accidental."

"Well I've been telling you that from the start. But if it's enough to convince you and the police, there must be more to it than that. What've you found?"

As Nick made his run-down of their activities and misadventures with gas, Jennifer came quietly up beside the rabbit and nudged her lightly with the corner of a tray. "Cup of tea, my dear?"

"Oh, erm-"

"Or coffee?"

"Yes, thank you."

The slightly hunched figure of the badger poured a cup from her green, sixties kettle and poured it into an equally sixties cup which she held out towards the rabbit.

"Take a seat, my dear. What will your friend be wanting?"

"Tea. Erm, if you wouldn't mind."

"Not at all. Does he have it strong?"

"Urh... think 'adding a drop of tea to a cup of milk'~"

The badger chuckled lightly as she poured. "My husband never liked his tea strong either."

Judy nodded to herself as she looked up at the fox, blowing on her drink which was not only too hot to drink but which was scolding her paw just a little through the mug... but being far too polite to want to put it down. Her blowing motion stopped, her brow furrowed and her ear raised, and she looked back to the beaver with a questioning expression. "How did you ~"

The badger chuckled, softly. "Not everyone finds the idea of cross-species relationships so alien that they cannot make a simple assumption when two such mammals are wearing matching rings, you know. My husband," she added, nodding meaningfully.

"What species was he?" she said, her voice dropping to a near-whisper.

The badger's only reply was a wry wink in her direction, as she quietly swapped her tea tray with a box of threads and needles and pieces of assorted material, settling down into a low, straight-backed chair as she took out a needle and thread and started to work her magic on the unassuming pieces of material.

"Now, as it turns out, even the gas in the fire itself was suspect. It didn't smell of anything, and Bogo said it must've been switched from the mains supply to something else."

Julia nodded, her emeralds gazing down at the floor by Nick's feet as he stood. "Interesting," she said, at length. "Sabotaged dials, a self-activating fire, an alternative source of gas... an unusual state of affairs indeed."

"Yeah, but it gives us something to go on, at least. Did either you or Harry have any work done on the house within the past few weeks? Months?"

The vixen raised an intelligent brow. "Why?"

"Well, as Hopps pointed out, it would've taken someone more then a little time and equipment to install a gas canister in your house and rig it up to the fire. We were wondering if anyone had come telling you - say - that they were with the boiler company and were doing services on the local area, or something."

The vixen opened her mouth to reply, but then she paused with her mouth slightly open and her gaze flitting left and right as she searched interiorly for the memory. "There... _yes_ , there was. They - it was - one day, our house lost all its heating and hot water. We phoned up the water company; they had us do some checks over the phone, and told us it looked like a problem with our boiler, as we did still have water.

"A day or two before, a leaflet had been put through our door advertising gas, oil and coal repairs with fast call-outs for sudden boiler failure." She sighed, softly. "It sounds suspicious now I say it in context, but at the time we didn't give it a thought; and besides, neither of us had long before we needed to go out to work, so Harry just used the first number to hand and called them. I can't remember much about the ~"

"A brown bear, by the name of Thomas," Barton said, not glancing up from her needlework as she sewed. "You mentioned him to me about two weeks ago now - can't remember a name, though. The company, I mean."

"That was it: Miller, Thomas Miller, and he was representing... it _was_... Gasway, that was it: Gasway."

"So your boiler stops working," Judy confirmed as she took down notes, "you phone Gasway, Thomas Miller comes and you... go out to work?"

"Yes, we both had appointments to keep. It's stupid: we both trusted him simply because he had a business card." Her head slowly lowered to her hands as the realization of her mistakes began to fully dawn on her. "If I had just thought to check of Gasway was a real business; not just a name printed on some leaflet they put through our door."

"You're saying they're not?" Nick said.

"I haven't checked, but what's to say they're not?"

Nick nodded. "Well, it's something we can look into. Hopefully they are a real company or something - if this 'Thomas' was the murderer and left just a fake company name, he's probably changed phone numbers by now, changed e-mail addresses and Thomas probably wasn't his real name. That doesn't leave us with a lot of info to find him with. If Gasway is a real company, they at least will have some kind of intel on what happened."

Julia nodded, standing. "I'll get back home and-"

"Please, don't trouble yourself, Julia," Hopps said. "If you kept the Gasway leaflet, just tell us where you found it and we'll send a message over to the ZPD."

"It's horrible. I never thought, just..."

Standing swiftly, the rabbit paced softly over to the vixen and placed a small paw on her shoulder. "We're here for you - _Nick_ is here for you - and we will both do _all_ we _possibly_ can to help you get through this; not only now, but after the investigation as well."

Gazing down at the floor, her eyes stinging with the threat of the tears of grief, the red fox raised a paw, and put it softly upon Judy's. "Thank you," she said, quietly. "I'm beginning to see why Nick likes you - he always did like caring and affectionate people, even when he was little."

"And the hot water could've been turned off in the night. If whoever set this up knows enough about home maintenance they can install a gas canister without leaving any traces, I'm sure they could have managed finding the stopcock, even if it meant sneaking in."

"Gasway," Nick said, reading from his phone, "established in nineteen eighty-two. They have over a hundred engineers, proven credentials, founded by Bob Betts and Graham Swift, erh... now managed by Ian Letts. There's a phone number. Want me to make a call?"

Hopps shook her head, slowly. "We'll get Bogo to call them. As much as Phoenix is respected and known nowadays, the busy manager of a large business would still probably rather save himself the time and not speak to us. He can't exactly refuse to speak with the Chief of Police himself, though."

"Good point. Alright," he said, finishing his drink, "should we head back there?"

"We don't both have to go," the rabbit said, nodding towards Julia subtitley. "I could walk back there on my own; you could 'stay here', if you wanted."

"I, erh... well," he said, glancing to Julia and back.

"Let's make things simple," the fox said, rising from her chair smoothly and setting down her cup. "I'll come back to my place with the two of you now."

"Great," Hopps said. "If you're done here, I mean - we can wait if we need to?"

"We're all finished up for now," the beaver said, glancing towards the rabbit with a smile, pulling out a final piece of thread and cutting it with her teeth.

"Well, thanks Mrs Barton," Nick said. "It was nice meeting you."

"You to, Mister Wilde. I wish the both of you the best of luck in this investigation, and..." she added softly, her gaze turning fondly to the rabbit... "any in anything _else_ the two of you do."

Judy smiled at the beaver as she made her farewell to the female of the two foxes. She followed the two of them, beside Judy, after they left the room,

"I put it off for far too long - we were both too caught up in our work, and by the time we realized how quickly our lives were passing us by it was too late. Please, _please_ my dear, don't make the same mistake with yours."

"The mistake? Putting off what?"

Reaching out, the beaver put her paw upon the rabbit's shirt. "Children." Her voice was a quiet whisper in her ear. She pulled her paw back, and revealed the small, red flower she had just finished making - now made into a badge which sat upon the rabbit's shirt.

Judy turned out towards the red fox watching her with a smile. He wouldn't have heard what Barton had said; he wouldn't have even known she had whispered in her ear. A smile grew on the rabbit's own face as she took in his expression - but she also made note of what the beaver had said; how fast the last year had gone; how easily years could pass.

She followed the elderly mammal as she made her slow way outside to follow the two foxes. They joined them in the warmth out the sun, stood on the cream-colored pavement, and shared a last, quick goodbye.

Barton turned back inside with a final wave towards them, and Judy, Nick and Julia made their ways back towards the Andrews' family residence - though the number of residence counted only one and she was, at heart, a Wilde.


	11. Upon a Loose End

I apologize for the inconsistencies in the descriptions of Jennifer Barton (calling her both beaver and badger). Please be aware she is a beaver, and not a badger. Thank you.

Also, I'm sorry for the wait since last chapter and continued lack of responses to anyone who has been in touch (time is pressing and I have not the opportunity to reply this week either - next week I should have more time). College has started again and I have a full timetable (Level 4 Games Development all day Monday to Friday) which leaves me a significantly less amount of free time than before.

Games Dev is no skive, last week we spent five hours on on one single PowerPoint about the fundamental principles of Business Management; next week it's Computer Game Legislation. The mental fatigue has made writing well difficult. Though I will try to keep both the pace and quality of writing as best as I can, it has become more difficult to do so.

* * *

SO SPAKE REYNARD to the Bear, "What say ye, Eme, that ye might have all the honey as you could not eat in seven years; which ye shall have holden of if ye will be to me friendly and helping against mine enemies in the King's court?"

"I promise you, Reynart," said Bruin, "should it be that I had that much honey as I could not in seven years eat, I should be a true and great friend, so help me God, for all that remains of my years of life."

Then Reynard smiled, the shrew, and took Bruin the Bear to the yard and workshop of Lantfert the carpenter, for Lantfert was a strong carpenter of great timber, and had brought the other day into his yard a great oak, which h had begun to cleave.

As is the way tofor splitting a great oak such as this, Lantfert had, with a heavy mallet, beaten large wedges therein, one after the other, in sichwise that the oak was wide open. Whereof Reynard was glad, for he found it right as he wished and said to the Bear, all laughing, "See now well and sharply to! In this tree is so much honey that it is without measure. Assay, if ye can come therein, and eat a little, for the honeycombs be sweet and good. Yet beware that ye eat not too many, but take of them by measure, that ye catch no harm in your body for, sweet Eme, I shall blame only myself if you came to harm."

"What say you, Reynart? Sorrow ye not for me! Ween ye that I were a fool?"

"Good measure is good in all, especially in meet sweet such as this. But ye say truth, whyfore should I sorrow? Go to the end and creep therein."

Bruin the bear hastened towards the honey for how longing for those honeycombs he was, and trod in with his two foremost feet, and looked down into the dark opening in the tree. "Be ye sure of this, Reynart, that there be honey herein?"

"If ye fear and are much concerned for what might come of this this lonely, helpless piece of oak, I say it would be best ye avoid and do not temper with the boundless quantities of honey herein."

Sorely abashed by this, Bruin put his head over his paws into the clift of the tree and sunk his head deep in to search of this honey. And Reynard sprang down lightly and broke out the wedges holding the oak open and so the wood closed in around the Bear; thereto helping Bruin neither in intent or result, forto his head and paws were fast shut in the tree. Thus has Reynard the Shrew, with deceit, brought his Eme in prison in the tree, in suchwise as he could not get out with might nay with craft, head nay foot.

What profit be to Bruin the Bear that strong and hardy he is? That may not help him. He saw so well was beguiled. He began to howl and bray, and clutched with hinder feet and made such noise and rumor that Lantfert came out hastily, and knew nothing of what might be, but took up a sharp hook and came tofor to see.

Reynard the Fox saw from far that Lantfert the carpenter came, and tho spake he to the Bear: "Is that honey good? How is it now? Eat not too much, it should do you harm; ye should not then well con go to the Court. I hear how good the honey is by your songs of joy at your eating. See Lantfert coming now? I should think he wants to give you a drink forto help you with your meal and so it shall not get caught in your throat."

Lantfert the carpenter came close and Reynard sprang lightly away to the bushes, watching close by as he saw the great bear trapped in his oak, and called out to all that might hear, "Come all in to my yard, there is a bear taken!" The word anon spread over all in the thorp, and all men with their wives came with every one holding a weapon: some with staff, some with rake, some with broom, some with so little as the branch of a hedge. The priest of the church came with the staff of the cross, and with all the others began to beat down upon Bruin.

Bruin sat and sighed and groaned and must taken such as was given to him, for all the blows upon his skull and shoulders and back, and all the beatings of the men and the women and the priest, who's crossed staff beat down the heaviest, as he struggled forto escape that tree, all to no avail for he was trapped tight. With a sticking jab his posterior was beaten, and his backmost legs kicked out behind him, landing many in the river which lay close by. Among them was the priest's wife. Thereupon the priest cried out loud with sorrow and offered any who would save her a pardon of their penance and release of all their sins.

The townsfolk left Bruin thereby forto help the women, and the Bear, at last, managed to tear himself from that oaken prison. Though it was at great cost to himself, for he had plucked so hard and so sore that he had left behind all the skin and both his ears, and the claws and gloves of his paws and he saw naught for the blood ran over his eyes. He dashed swiftly to the lake on his pained and bloodied paws, and made quickly to swim away down the river, thereto he may find a quiet place to make rest from the shame and torture of the fox's wickedness and devilry for a time.

There soon after, as he swam with the thorp well behind him, he passed the Fox as he wenten back to his home. "Alas, Lantfert, lewd fool!" Reynard thought to himself, believing before that the carpenter had taken Bruin's life from him. Tho he walked to the edge of the river alongside the Bear and spake, " _Chiere priestre, Dieu vous garde!_ Will ye see the red thief? Hath ye not given payment for your honey thereof? Hath Lantfert beaten you for your theft thereto?""

"The ribaud and fell beast," said the Bear to himself, "here I hear his mocking words."

Bruin swam away with shame and anger, and with much sorrow that he should now comen to the Court, for he had lost his ears and the skin with the claws of his paws, and all to the mockery of false deceits of the Fox.

* * *

The trio - the foxes and the rabbit - walked quietly down the warm pavement in the gentle breeze of the day, the rabbit turning up with a warm smile to the fox walking beside her, his russet coat shining and fiery in the light.

The red fox glanced towards her, his lips parting to a smile of his own as he reached out and slipped his arm about the rabbit's shoulders, just for a moment, pulling her close into his side as they walked - slipping his arm away again as she giggled lightly, for fear of the female fox walking ahead of them looking back.

Nick turned to his lover as she smiled up at him - Julia's ear picking up, twitching just a little as he spoke: "So what did she say to ya?"

"Hm? Who?"

"The old Barton lady. Who else?" he said, a grin dancing around the edge of his expression.

"Well," she began, evasively, "she said quite a few things, Nicky dear, what exactly d'you-"

"The thing she said when she put _this_ on," Nick cut in, reaching out a paw and cupping his fingers softly around the small, red flower which had been pinned to her shirt. "This little bit of 'fabric' she put here." His paw lingered upon her a little longer than it had to before he drew his hand away.

Judy glanced to the vixen just ahead of them, and guessed by the angle of her ears she was listening in. "Just a little bit of advice," she said, airily. "Just a little bit of insider experience she happened to mention."

Nick's brow raised at the subtle change in the rabbit's tone of voice - a detail so slight only people who knew her well would be likely to spot it. He motioned to reply to her, but his voice drifted to silence as she sent a quick wink towards him and increased her pace, drawing level with the fox ahead of them.

"So Julia," she said, brightly, "have you been living here long?"

The female turned down slowly towards the rabbit, taking in the features of her face, her build and her expression before replying. "How did you first meet Nick?" she said, abruptly.

The question took the rabbit off guard for half a second before she adjusted, and smiled, as she replied: "I was actually still in the ZPD back then - in that one 'whole day' I spent working with them. We started out w-"

"Did you try to arrest him, Miss Hopps?"

The rabbit's cheerful smile started fading just a little - Nick looked carefully between the rabbit and the fox, but judged his silence was the best thing he could offer, and trusting that Judy could handle whatever she was about to receive.

Her expression becoming formal, the rabbit answered, diplomatically: "I'm not sure I understand you, Mrs Wilde."

"Judy, I realize..." sighing, Julia glanced over her shoulder to the vulpine walking behind them. "I realize I've hardly been 'present' in Nick's life these past eight years - that, no matter what I thought of him or how he made a living back then, I shouldn't take it for granted he'd still be hustling out on the street - but, all the same ~"

Pausing for a moment, Julia glanced up and down the street; crossing over the road with Nick behind her and Judy following beside. "You can't argue it's peculiar he would end up working (even if unofficially), with a cop and a rabbit no less. I ask again: how did the two of you first meet? Did he try to hustle you? Did you try to arrest him?"

"It... I could have done, _yes,_ " Hopps said uncertainly, glancing back at Nick. "He, erh... _heh,_ he did hustle me too, but then I managed to 'encourage' him into helping me out with the missing mammals case the PD had me on at the time."

"Yeah, by 'encourage'," Nick said, dryly, "she means 'blackmail'."

Julia paused and turned, looking over the rabbit's head and gazing at the fox, wryly. "You let a rabbit-copper on her first day on the beat blackmail you?"

" _Ooh,_ " Nick reacted, shaking his head as he held her gaze, a glimmer of fear in his eyes and a ghost in his expression, "if you knew Carrots - if you knew what she was capable of - _jeez_... you'd never overlook a rabbit ever again."

His sister raised a quizzical brow, and turned back down to the rabbit stood between them. "Just what is the story between the tow of you guys, anyway?"

Nick chuckled, his voice still edged a little with the ghost of unease. "That's a whole other story by this point, Julia... it _really_ is."

Julia snorted, her house coming into view. "Really, now. What, they making it into a film or something?"

"Something like that, Julia. Now come on, let's go speak to the Chief."

...

It was unclear exactly what the Officers of the ZPD were supposed to be doing - ineffectually searching the garden and milling about in the house they had already searched just a few days before - but they were, at least, making a show of putting in the effort, and the Detectives of Phoenix Investigation couldn't blame them for being unsure as to what they were supposed to be looking for - Nick and Judy would have been too, in their situation.

When the Chief saw their approach, he turned away form the small circle of Officers he was talking to and marched towards them, meeting them on the boarder between the back garden and the front.

"Hopps, Wilde," he greeted before turning to Julia. "Mrs Andrews."

"Chief," Julia nodded to him, with Judy smiling and Nick smirking in greeting. "Ni - Mister Wilde has brought me up to speed on the investigation - about the gas leak and the sabotaged dials. Have any advancements been made?"

"A few, yes," he said, turning and leading the trio towards the back of the house. "My officers have stripped back the plaster and uncovered the gas canister. The pipes connecting to the mains supply have been intentionally cut and plugged and replaced with the pipes leading to the canister."

"And the canister was filled with scentless gas. It switched itself on one morning, and _gassed_ my husband."

Bogo cleared his throat, still facing away from the female fox, and clearly unsure of how to proceed with the mix of venom and sadness in her voice. "This job clearly would have taken an experienced worker several hours to do properly. As I'm sure they told you, Wilde and Hopps came to you to ask if you've had serious work done on the house within the past few months."

"Gasway," Nick slipped in. "Her and Harry's boiler packed up several weeks ago and they had a Gasway leaflet to hand - one which had been put through the door just the day before. They phoned them up, the repairmammal came, and they left him to it for a few hours."

Bogo grunted. "Gasway is a reputable business; all their workers are checked out for reputability, as far as I'm aware."

"You've heard of them, then?" Judy chipped in.

"And used them, on occasion. Have you contacted them?"

"Erm... actually, Chief," Judy said, "we were hoping _you_ could. 'Chief of Police', and all ~"

"I see. What was the worker's name?"

"Miller, Thomas Miller.

"I have their number," he said, fishing a paw into his pocket as he turned a step away, "I'll give them a call and arrange an interview now." He paused upon finding the number on his phone, and turned over his shoulder towards the rabbit and her duo of foxes. "Do the two of you wish to conduct the interview yourselves, or shall I give that to one of my officers?"

"Urh," Hopps said, turning to Wilde, "Nick, what do you think?"

"I'll leave it unspecified," Bogo cut in as Nick opened his mouth to reply. "I'll phone the manager and make him find an appointment for 'an investigator' to come see him at some time in the next few days."

"Okay, thanks Chief," Judy said; adding playfully a moment later: "Don't be to rough with him."

"That depends entirely on his receptiveness and willingness to cooperate," said the Chief.

Bogo paced away, around the corner of Julia's house as he raised the phone to his head, his opening introduction with the manager of Gasway beginning just as he turned out of sight.

Hopps turned back towards the two foxes stood behind her, clasping her paws in front of her as she gazed up towards them. "So, what's the next step?"

Wilde glanced sideways to his sister; then turned back down towards the rabbit, his voice lower and a touch more matter-of-fact than usual. "Well, it seems our only real lead at this time is with Gasway. With Bogo willing to look into Gasway and take over investigation in that area, that really doesn't leave us with a lot to do."

"Although the _did_ say he'd be willing to let us carry on leading this investigation."

" _Yeah_ , but... I'm sure Bogo can manage the _erh_ ~" Glancing towards his sister a second time, the reason for his hesitance to answer dawned on the rabbit.

"Julia," she said, smartly adjusting the focus of her conversation, "Chief Bogo is a very capable mammal; I'm sure, if there's anything incriminating to find in Gasyway, he'll be fully able to find it. So, if you'd be willing, I think it might be an idea for Phoenix to take a step back from this investigation. However, you did hire us and you did seek us out specifically, so if you want us to carry on 'actively' investigating, that's fine too."

Raising a paw, the female vixen stroked the fur on her chin, her tailing picking up a swaying motion softly behind her as she looked slowly between the rabbit and the fox.

"And what would you be doing instead?" she said.

"Heh, you'll laugh if we told you," Nick said.

"Go on."

"We, erh... we'll go have a holiday."

The vulpine chuckled nervously as he watched the vixen's expression. Her gaze smoldered on him for a few seconds, but then a quiet chuckle escaped her and her face began to brighten. "You would never've done a hard day's work in your life if you could've helped it, would you, Nicky?"

"Aw, I don't know," he said, grinning warmly, "I've put my tail out a few time for Hoppsie this past year."

"Yes," Julia said, her gaze flicking down to the rabbit, her voice taking on an oddly 'curious' tone. "Yes, you have."

Judy kept her face natural, but she couldn't control the heat which built around her cheeks.

The vixen chuckled, softly. "You two make a cute couple."

...the last of the rabbit's ability to control her blush failed her, and her cheeks became discernibly tinged with pink. She glanced up towards Nick as he suppressed a slight cough, and turned back towards his sister as she tried to come up with a response.

"There's a pretty nice diner not far from here," Julia said, sweetly. "Here's the deal: I'll call your involvement in this over, pay you in full and let you get on with this little 'holiday' of yours... and in return, Nicky here takes the three of us out to dinner tonight, so the two of you can tell me _all about_ what's happened."

Reaching out softly, the vixen took Nick's paw and held it in hers. She turned down towards the still-blushing rabbit with a fond smile, and took the rabbit's small, soft paw into her free one. Holding both their paws, the vixen looked fondly between the both of them. " _Hm-hm_ , so these _are_ engagement rings after all. There's a lot I need to get caught up on, it seems."

" _Got that right,_ " Nick said, quietly.

...

A few moments later, the Chief of Police rounded the corner back into view. He found Hopps and the others had began chatting with one of the other officers - but this social interaction was quickly waylaid by the more pressing matter of Police business by a stern ' _A-hem_ ' close behind.

"Chief!" Hopps said, brightly. "How did it go?"

The buffalo's face bore its usual, stony gaze. "There's good and bad," he said, grimly. "I've spoken to Ian Letts the manager and, after some 'encouragement', he said he was willing to talk to whomever I wanted him to. I then gave him the name of the employee who apparently installed the canister, and it appears he resigned from his position no more than three days after Harry Andrew's death was reported to the public."

"Did he leave a reason why?" Nick said.

"Something about 'personal stress'."

"Huh. The 'guilt' of murdering someone, perhaps."

"Possibly, Wilde. Or perhaps simply to try to make himself harder to trace if and when we got a hold of his scent."

"Think you can dig him out?"

"Almost certainly. I've done it many times. He may've changed jobs but his information is still on the company records. Even if he's changed his phone number, moved house and taken on a different name - which I doubt he's likely to do - he'll have left markers and clues simple enough even for junior officers to follow. We'll find him."

"Thanks, Chief," Hopps said. "You've done great work."

"Of course," Bogo added, his voice taking up tones of sarcasm, "this is _your_ investigation; I wouldn't want to 'steal away' any glory or, say, your 'paycheck'-"

Hopps bristled. For all this time, for all the job's she and Nick and taken in this past year, they had never taken on a job for the money - it was to _help_ people; to make the world a _better_ place - but, still, Bogo regally 'made remark' about the amount of money they had made in the process.

 _It's just spite_ , Nick would say. _We make a heck of a lot more than he does, after all._

"-so if you want me to recall my officers and allow _you_ complete and uninterrupted access to the scene, and if _you_ want to put the back-work in to finding and drawing out this 'Miller' character, just let me know."

"Oh, _well,_ you _know_ we'd love to help you out Chief," Hopps said, wondering suddenly if saying 'but we want to go on holiday' was the best way of finishing that sentence, "but, well -"

"Julia's looking for some impartial support and consultation," Nick said. "Since she's already employed us to do a job that's now being taking over by the ZPD, we thought we'd offer some free councilmen about what to do when the murderous is apprehended an all."

Bogo nodded, darkly. " _I see_. Well," he said, grunting, "neither of you are officers on my force so I can't discipline you for shirking off early. And as it was _you_ who discovered this new lead (even if it was only by _chance_ of nearly getting yourselves 'gassed')" he added in a mutter, "I can't claim to hold the moral high ground as we wouldn't be here investigating if but for you."

Waving his arm loosely before him, the Chief gave an uninterested grunt and turned to walk away. "The two of you can go. I'll have some officers look into picking up Thomas Miller's trail."

The Chief matched swiftly away, leaving Hopps and the Wildes to watch after him as he rounded a corner back inside. They turned inwards on themselves, and glanced between one anothers' expressions as they tried to decide what the next step should be.  
 _  
"So-"  
"Well-"  
"Erm-"_  
\- they said, all speaking at once.

"Miss Hopps," Julia said. "Judy, if the two of you are finished with me for now, I'll go back to the tailoury and help Mrs Barton out. Okay?"

"Go ahead," said Judy. "I don't think there's a lot more we can do in this investigation at the moment - I'm sure Bogo can handle any problems just as well, or better, than we could - and there's no questions or information I can think at the moment we might need."

"Julia," Nick said, "were you serious about that whole 'going out to dinner' thing?"

"Nine o'clock?"

Nick grinned. "We'll pick you up then. _Uh,_ I mean, _if Carrots-_ "

"I look forwards to it," Hopps said, smiling at both foxes warmly. "It seems like we both have a lot to tell each other about our troublesome Nick here."

"Oh, more than you can imagine," Julia said, taking the rabbit's paws. She kissed Judy, briefly, on the side of her cheek, before turning to the male fox stood beside them.

Grinning, Nick opened his arms towards her.

Julia made towards him, raised a paw, and clipped him, smartly, across the ear.

The vulpine nodded his head slowly, a dull smile on his face as he rubbed at his ear - this act being far from the last thing he expected. But, then, the vixen paced a step closer to him, and slipped her arms softly yet deeply around him - holding him close for a few, relief-filled seconds as they smelt one anther's distantly and fondly-remembered scents.

The hug could have gone on longer, but Julia Wilde pulled herself away from the fox's figure, turning swiftly to face away from the two as she raised a paw towards her face.

Nick sighed. "Julia-"

"I'll be okay, Nick," she said, her voice roughed by emotion. "I'll see the two of you later; you can tell me all about your adventures with each other then."

The fox smiled at his sister sadly; Judy stepping a little closer beside him and slipping a reassuring paw into his. When Nick's gaze eventually lowered back towards Judy - with Julia pacing brusquely away - Judy spoke:

"You can believe her, Nick. She will be okay. She'll have the best _brother_ in the world looking after her."

Nick's warm smile held Judy's for a second longer, but then it faltered, and his gaze returned to the distant figure of the female, a dry and uncomfortable sigh escaping him. "I'm not, though - I'm not. She was a great sister - we spent a lot of time with each other when we were young - but, _well,_ when I got to the age I could be useful as a brother... where was I?"

The fox's gaze met the rabbit's once more, the warmth of her smile replaced with a more distant but resolute expression.

"If it hadn't' had been for that day at her wedding, well... it would've been well over a decade and a half - heck, seventeen years - since I'd last seen her. Still, I'm glad I have this opportunity to be with her now; to help her through something like a brother _should_."

Judy smiled as she looked up at her fox, her gaze eventually turning to the distant figure of Julia as she turned a corner to finally be out of sight.


	12. Rest for the Worthwhile

Mind in the gutter? Pah! Forsooth, 'Guest', Dick used to mean Detective; it might have come from a series of books written Joyce Emmerson. I did a little research. There were several hundred books, apparently, which predated Sherlock Holmes, and were written under the pseudonym 'Dick Donovan'. In the same way James Bond is now the classic name for a spy,'Dick' was once the classic name of a detective. Hence, if it was to be a private detective, 'Private Dick'.

Thanks for the review regardless,  
Smail.

* * *

BRUIN THE BEAR, having crawled those long miles across the hill towards the King's Court, came tofor the Court and the feasting beasts thereby. When came he into their sight, there were many afraid and doubtful of what they saw, for none though he should come so wenteling and bloodied.

The King, at last, knew him and was not well pleased, and said, "This is Bruin the Bear, my friend! Lord God what misfortune come by him? Who hath wounded him thus? He is passing read on his head; me thinketh he is hurt unto the death. Where may he have bin?"

Therewith is the Bear come tofor the king and groaned: "I complain to you, oh merciful Lord the King, so you may see how that I am handled, praying you to avenge it upon Reynart the fell beast; for I have gotten this in your service. I hath lost both my foremost feet, my cheeks and mine ears by his false deceit and treason."

The King said, "How durst this false thief Reynard! I say to you, Bruin, and swear by my crown I shall so avenge you on him that ye shall con me thank!"

The King sent for all his wisest bests thereby and desired counsel how that he might avenge this over-great wrong that the Fox had done. Then the council concluded, old and young, that he should be sent for and brought without delay to the Court to suffer harsh judgment as he should there be given of all his trespasses. But by whose order should the Fox be sent for? With the strength and might of the Bear having failed him, they thought that the cat, Tybert, might best do this message if he would, for he was right wise. The King thought this counsel to be good.

Then the King said:" Sir Tybert, ye shall now go to Reynard and so to him this second time, that he shall come to the Court onto the plea for to answer."

"Me?" said Tybert, much afraid of what might come of this. "But my Lord, see how bloodied and sorely done by is the Bear! I am but a small beast and Bruin so great and strong. I shall go if you command it, but what shall I do thence? I have not the strength to force the Fox to go and nor for me would neither come nay abide. I beseech you, dear King, send some other in my stead."

"Nay," said the King, "Sir Tybert ye be wise and well learned, and though you be not great ye have craft and cunning on your side, and the swiftness and suppleness which may bring you such advantage as might and strength might not bring. God give you grace on your journey for I see you shall well achieve it. The Fox speaks fare, as best ye know, but I shall think him unable to speak so fairly as to trick you."

Tho went the cat with a heavy heart, and he sorrowed that his journey should turn to unhappe. Nevertheless he did as many do, and gave himself better hope than his heart said. He went and ran to Maleperduys, and there he found the fox alone, standing tofor his gate.

* * *

The two mammals had been quiet on their journey from the Andrews' residence back home, with Judy quietly content to sit back and watch the city pass by her, and Nick focused on staying focused - the lack of sleep praying preying hard on both their minds.

"What time did Julia say we'd be going out for dinner?" Judy asked, turning slowly towards the fox with her eyelids drawn and heavy.

"Uh, about ten hours time," Nick said, glancing to the dashboard clock. "Plenty of time to get a little nap," he added, correctly guessing her reason for asking.

Hopps chuckled softly, leaning away from the window and towards the warm-smelling fox beside her, leaning her cheek against his shoulder as he continued driving along the road. "You gonna come straight up and join me this time, Slick?"

"Huh. With the amount of sleep I've had? Course. I don't know about you, but I ain't got the energy to go spend hours looking at marr- _rh_..."

Judy's face rose from resting against his side, and a single ear raised in questioning attention. Nick glanced sideways between her, his shoulders tensing for a moment before he forced himself to relax and continued:

"...looking at minute bits of information for cases. Erh, _heh_ , it gets real tiring doing all that research.

The rabbit looked thoughtfully at nothing for a few long minutes - the fox driving in silent anticipation beside her, hoping his blunder hadn't been too obvious; knowing it almost certainly was. Her gaze raising to look upon the fox's russet face, Judy inhaled to speak.

"Oh, by the way," Nick said - not interrupting her, exactly, as she hadn't started speaking - but still dodging out of the way of whatever line of questioning she was about to start to persuade, "Mister Pontique will probably wanting that recording of his back. He'll be wanting it to give to his lawyers and get the divorce set up and all."

Judy's unwaveringly thoughtful gaze didn't shift away from the fox's expression - it was never really distracted or put off; and the cogs of thought didn't stop turning just because the subject had been chained - but, at last, after a few tense moments for the fox, the rabbit slumped back into her chair and sighed, airily.

"We don't _both_ have to drop the recording off. When we get home, one of us could just stay there and get a little extra sleep while the other

"Sure, that's fair enough," Nick said, nodding slowly. "Alright, when we get back I'll drop you off, fetch the tape and be off again. Shouldn't take more than twenty minutes in all."

"I'll do it," Hopps said, quietly.

"Judy, that's not-"

"I said _I'll do it,_ Nick," she said, her voice turning sharper as her glare turned towards him.

The fox glanced across to the rabbit as she turned back to gaze back at the road ahead, thinking for a few moments to make sure he hadn't done anything that might have been winding her up recently, and then smiling to himself (though didn't dare let her see it) as he figured it out. _She always gets like this when she's tired,_ he thought, turning towards her with a sly smile. "I think someone's getting a little tired and grumpy," he teased.

"I'm not tired!" Judy shot, hotly. "I'm just a little... not... _I mean... merhie~"_

His grin widening, Nick chuckled to himself. _And she always, always denies it too._  
 _So adorable_. "Well, if you're _sure_ , Carrots. I guess I could let you do a little extra legwork while I settle down for an early nap - since that's what you _really_ want."

"You took the brunt of the gas, Nick. I'm sure you're fine, but I am not leaving you driving on your own after what happened. I think it's dangerous for either of us to drive so tired, but if one of us has to, it should be me - I've had a little more sleep, and wasn't so near the boiler when it went off."

Nick agreed quietly, his mind trailing off from the conversation as realization hit him: he was going to be on his own now for at least twenty minutes. Partly due to how intensely partnership-related their work was (with both of them needing the assistance and support of the other almost continuously to ensure they were operating to the best of their abilities) and with how close and intimate their relationship with one another had become, it wasn't often either of them got much time alone.

At realizing he would have a rare moment to be completely without irruption - without having to make excuses or constantly be listening out for her approaching footsteps - Nick mind wondered to the computer on the first floor; to the internet search for 'marriage venues' he had left unsearched for when Judy had come down last night.

Without realizing it, Nick's foot started to press down just a little firmer on the accelerator.

He knew he couldn't get much done in twenty minutes, but it was _still_ a whole twenty minutes of time he could dedicate to looking for somewhere that would take their two species without it having to cut in to his and Judy's time together as it so often did. The impact of the thought took the fox's mind, and his foot pressed down a little firmer still on the peddle.

Judy's soft paw reached out and took him by the wrist. "Nick? You okay?"

The fox glanced towards the rabbit swiftly, fearing, for an instant, she had somehow read his thoughts by how clearly and strongly they were in the forefront of his mind. He took notice of the car's speed, and eased off back to normal. "Yeah, I'm fine... just fine."

Glancing to her again, Nick took in her expression. She was nervous. For a moment, he wondered if it was fear at the speed he had, a moment ago, been taking them at, but with the speeds she sometimes drove when the roads were empty, he doubted that was the case.

"What about you, Fluff, what's the matter?"

"It's nothing, I-"

"Come on now, Judy, I know you better then that. I know when something's wrong."

"And so do _I_."

The fox's ears pricked up, his hackles rising just a little with the definite meaningfulness in her words. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, his ears slowly flattening against his head as she spoke:

"Don't sit there and try to play the impeccable fox with me, Nick. Don't pretend you can read me like a book while all I get from you is a hazy impression of lazy charm. I can read you just as damn well as you can read me. So _stop telling_ me to open up about this 'thing' that's troubling me and tell _me_ what's troubling _you_."

He tried to hide it, but Judy saw the twitching of his lower lip; the hint of a grimace; a reaction which, on the face of a mammal who could not hide his expressions as well as Nick could, would have turned to a downcast frown of dejection.

The rabbit pushed on - what she had to say was important - but her voice also faltered in it's accusation, as the sight of her lover hurt made her double-think her harshness.

"You know what I'm talking about, Nick," she said, softer. "Now... whatever it is that's stopping us from doing this, from taking this next step, we can work through it; we can get through it together. What I don't understand - the 'thing' that's troubling me - is that... you're not telling me about it, you're keeping me in the dark."

Her paw sliding across between them, Judy's palm came resting softly, warmly upon Nick's paw as it rested upon the steering wheal, her voice soft and subtly pleading as she spoke. "All I want to know is why, Nick. _Why?_ "

 _It's happened,_ Nick thought. _Well, it was only a matter of time..._

...it was only a matter of time before Judy stopped 'being so good' about all the time's Nick had sidestepped her questions and mentioning of marriage; it was only a matter of time before her enormous patience and understanding were spent; it was only a matter of time before she would start directly questioning him on just _why_ he was avoiding the subject of marriage with her, and only a matter of time before her thoughts became darker and filled with doubts, and she'd be left wondering if the fox who loved her with more then his life really cared at all.

 _But how to tell her? How to tell her no one in the city is willing to host an interspecies marriage? She wouldn't just take it out on me - that I could handle, and probably diverse - but the whole city._ He knew if Judy lost her temper she could become a ball of furious fluff. And when he imagined just how much that little revelation would tick her off? Well... he wouldn't have been surprised if the whole city ended up in flames; raised to the ground.

Apparently his thinking had lasted longer than he'd realized, for his foot pressed down automatically on the break and slowed their car to a stop in the street outside the back entrance to their house. When he drew his mind back, he found the rabbit's paw still resting on his - slowly caressing it, rubbing her fingers softly against his with an expression of unaccusing consern.

He turned to her, his expression soft and his eyes misted and unfocused with sleep deprivation. Judy's amethysts flitted between the fox's tired emeralds for a few, sad moments, and then she pushed her head softly up against his, her eyes falling closed as she rested her forehead alongside his long, warm muzzle.

"You know I hate it when you do this to me. We've spent a _long_ time learning to trust each other, Nick. I could understand you doing this when we were still in the early stages of our relationship - this kind of closed-in-ness had kept you safe for years, after all - but, by this point, we should be long past the time you feel you need to keep things from me. I can help you. You know I can help you."

The fox moved to draw breath to form the start of a responce, but the rabbit's small paw softly moved and held shut the male's russet muzzle - her tiny-clawed fingers resting over the end of his long mouth. She drew back her face from pressing against his chin, and moved herself to look straight into his eyes.

"Whatever it is, you don't have to tell me right now. I know it must be something important, something hard for you you're not sure how to approach. We can leave it for later, when you're more relaxed or when you've got it figured out what you want to say to me. Until then, I just want to hear you say that you _will_ tell me, and soon."

Reaching forward, the fox took the rabbit's fingers into his large, padded paw, taking them softly from his mouth and caressing them softly with his fingers. "I'll tell ya, Hopps. I promise."

Judy's saddened expression turning to a soft smile, the rabbit stretched forwards and wrapped her arms about him. "You've given your word now, Nick. I hope you don't break this promise too." Her hold tightening about him, she sighed, deeply. "I just hope you don't get into the habit of making promises you don't keep; I mean, I'm _sure_ you had your reasons for leaving me up there alone last night, but... we need to be open with each other. I have to be able to trust you with my life."

Her eyes drew open as the fox's arms coiled softly around her, and her gaze fell upon the piece of metal which glinted brightly on the fox's finger - even in the dull light of the shadowed car park. From a dark place in her mind, a grim thought emerged:

 _It all starts so innocently: it always does. But lies lead to more lies; broken promises lead to broken prominences. It's only small at the moment - just a promise about coming to bed and a failure to keep track of time - but, still, if he's willing to break these 'small' promises now..._ the world around her seemed to grow dark, even as the glinting light of the engagement ring shone up brighter still... _what other promises would he be willing to break in the future?_

Her eyes shut tight, tight enough to hold back the single threatening tear and to push that horrid thought sternly away. She didn't believe it, because she knew it wasn't true. She didn't know where it had come from, but the thought _had_ been there, none the less. She couldn't ignore that - it was too dangerous a thought to ignore - but it was down to the fox to rid her of this sickening sense of unease, and she put her trust, faithfully and without reservation, in his paws.

A short time later, the two mammals emerged from their small car. The fox took the lead, and pushed open the back entrance to the house with his small, metal key. The key may have been small but the security system was strong, with this house - and all other houses in this area - being significantly more costly than the average 'rented apartment' of most of the deep parts of the city.

There were few actual 'houses' this deep in the city, but the fox and rabbit - with the government funding (and a little bit of 'it's-who-you-know' from Mayor Lionheart) they had managed to find one, in a street of very up-market houses.

The area of the city was clean and mostly free of crime; yet it was still very much in the same city that was, in parts, populated by people of a far less amiable demeanor (and far less innocent intent), so they were never far from the location of their next case; nor did they ever have to spend long looking for work.


	13. A Moment's Peace

THENCE CAME TYBERT the Cat tofor the front gate of the fox's castle and found Reynard stood before the gate and who looked with an arduous concentration at the lands that surrounded. Tho when the Cat came before him, he judged it that Reynard was not to knowe that he was there at all. Raising his paw, thereto, the Cat spoke out for the fox's attention and tugged lightly upon his shirt with his small claws.

"Be silent," said the fox, his emerald glare suveying the fields around him. And he said nothing more nay payed the Cat any heed. Tybert waited but a few moments more with is arms crossed before him and his tail swishing behind him as he gazed up towards the fox. His patience soon wore thin; thereupon he made forwards past the fox and sprang lightly up the near by tree 'til his face was on that level as to be upon the same height of that of the fox. Holding on with one small paw, he reached across to the fox and took his shoulder and turned him about towards him.

"Hear me, Reynart, for I commen with a message from the King. Your sore misdeeds you put against the Bear have been received most blackly, and He has it that your life will be forfeit if you do not nowe comen to speak with him. I may have no strength nay will to overpower you, Reynard Red, but by his Crown the King hath sworn to bring you before him, and through me his message passes to you, that which ye might knowe and decide it best you comen with no tarry."

"Oh, Tybert," he cried, "had I but known it was you! I should never have left ye awaiting mine attention for so long! You surly coneth me no thank for this ill treatment; it was unfavorable of me to the height of Heaven for me to leaveth ye so, for you are among the truest and fæstest friends I have. But what is this of Bruin the Bear? Has it been he was supposed to come by here? And this message of the King: it is the first I have heardeth of it. Will not you comen inside, Eme Tybert, that ye may speak out all the King hath told you?"

"Nay, Reynart, fell friend. I trust you not to comen into your house alone at this hour. The order comeths from the King Himself and I need not explain it nor argue the King's case. That is for the King to do Himself and what there is for you to do is to comen this instant and without delay tofor his court. And lie not of the Bear, it is well known that you lead him into the carpenter's yard with promises of honey which he loveth most deeply, and had him put his head into an open bark which you closed shut tofor, and trapped his had inside."

Nowe here the Fox desired without restraint to open his mouth and allow his laughter to shake his belly until his lungs were empty and his energy spent. But he held back this desire and with great care and delicacy of mind, raised his paw tofor his muzzle and covered his lips as though in shock. "Oh, what sad mishap hath come to Bruin my Eme? Did Lantfert the carpenter then comen from inside and find Bruin trapped within? Did he then call the townsfolk and batter and bully the Bear with stick and hammer? What sadness such should comen to a beast such as he, for he was a dear friend of mine indeed and his wise council would be of great value to me at a difficult time such as this, for he was always so wise in the matter of catching mice."

At this the Cat's attention was diverted, and he swiftly accepted the validity of the fox's words without due thought as to more quickly move to the latter matter which intrigued his greedy thoughts greatly. "Mice, Reynart? What mice is this of which you speak?"

"Hath ye not heard? It is Mouse Day!" The Cat looked on baffled; Reynard expected this reaction as there was no such day as what he nowe described. "It is a long-standing celebration of a coming of a great number of mice tofor this Realm. Forsooth, it is a celebration of the end of the mices' mating season; the day when all the young, fat mice cometh from there holes to see that which they might of the world above ground. It has long been the way that Bruin would meet me on this day and we would hunt these mice together, hence why you found me waiting outside the gate when you arrived. And as to my vacancy and faltering to notice your arrival: I was watching the horizon and keeping a look out for the first of the thousands of mice that soon will comen by this way."

"Thousands?" spoke the Cat in great astonishment. "Howbeit I never hath heard of this day before?"

"It is not a widespread happening, Eme Tybart. Sirkly, it be only within a short distance of here that there be mice to be found. But alas without Bruin, I fear I shall catch not even one young mouse, for we two would work close together to chase great dozens of mice at once into our traps. Yet alone I cannot steer which way the mice run, and can only fluster and disorientate them."

"What of I, Reynart? Can not I assist you in getting a portion of these mice?"

"Come nowe, Tybert, you crave not so highly for mice. It is long and most arduous work, and many hours of silent waiting cometh between the starting and the end. Truly, mine Eme, you wish not for mice so greatly.

"Reynart, leif Eme, I loveth mice above all other pudding. Do ye not know that mice savor better than venison, ya than flawnes or pasties? I jape with you not. If I had a fat mouse I would not give it for a golden noble!"

"Such good news this is, Tybert! We two shall go now to where the mice emerge from in their thousands, that we may catch our great portion which we may share between us." Tho went they from the gate of Maleperduys, with Tybert the Cat following eagerly behind. Think ye not, that it would have been better for him to have remembered Bruin's condition, and to recall that the Fox he now calleth 'friend' was the cause of what had come his way? Perhaps, had he paused for but a moment and not allowed greed to take him so, he should have realized the terrible dread he puteth himself into.

* * *

Nearly an hour had passed - after dropping him off, Judy had picked up the tape the two of them had taken last night, and left Nick alone to his own devices. He had done as he'd intended and logged on to the computer, spending the majority of the hour searching online for more sources of cross-species marriage venues.

After a while, though, the weight of fatigue pressed down upon him, leadening his eyes and drooping his tail. A little over forty minutes after he started - after searching and e-mailing a further two venues - the fox had sat back from the table with a heavy huff, his paw rubbing against his misted emeralds as his head throbbed, gently, from overworking.

His eyes hurt, his back was sore and his mind was refusing to work. _Time to call it quits, I guess,_ he muttered as he stood, switching off the power. _For now, at least._

He climbed the flights of stares up to the relative coolness of the bedroom, pulled the door open and swung it back shut behind him, falling readily to the softness of the sheets, his eyes glad for the darkness of the closed curtains and his legs grateful for the opportunity to lye and do nothing. But sleep refused him, and his eyes gazed up blankly at the ceiling.

A while later, the fox's ear twitched: a car he knew pulling down the road (he recognized the sound of the engine). He pulled himself a little from his emptiness of mind as he heard it pull around the nearby corner and around to the back of his and Judy's house, listening to the sound of the engine two floors below as it whirred to a halt.

His ears twitched as he heard the front door open and shut; his tail swished and his eyes moved - his head raising and turning with a small smile to the bedroom door - as the figure of a rabbit slipped inside, her ears hanging low and her step missing its bounce.

"Messy job, huh?" he said softly as the rabbit shut the door with a quiet click, her face, as she turned back to him, exhausted by more than just a lack of sleep.

"He was... well, he wasn't happy, Nick. He..." Sighing, her gaze fell down towards her feet; her paws raising and unbuttoning her shirt, clumsily.

"I think I get the picture, Carrots. Men like that can get a little hard to control when they're upset. They get used to being in positions of power, and they don't like it when things don't go their way. But hey, makes them easy to hustle?" The rabbit released a dry chuckle, and the fox pulled himself upright in the bed, patting the sheets beside him as he said: "Come here, Carrots. The way you're fumbling with those buttons, it's gonna take you hours to get your kit off on your own."

Hopps pushed herself off the door, and managed to half-walk-half-stumble in the general direction of the bed, allowing Wilde's arms to slip around her and lift her up onto the bed; allowing his soft warmth to surround her as his fingers swiftly undid the buttons on her shirt.

A few moments later and the fox had managed to help the rabbit to fully disrobe. Usually, Nick noted, Judy made a habit of wearing a comfortable, over-sized t-shirt to bed (something he happened to know Bonnie had once told her to do, many years before she'd met Nick, because it kept a male 'interested'), but tonight - _well, today_ Hopps' added - all she wanted was _just_... get a _little_... _sleep!_

As she lay down against the warmth of the fox's body - in the comforting darkness of the bedroom and the softness of the duvet and mattress - Judy Hopps turned over onto her side towards him, slipping her leg and arm over him so she could pull herself closer against his appealing scent.

The fox settled back down into the warm spot he'd made, and the rabbit slid her face deeper into the softness of the side of his neck. Then the thought of what he'd been doing struck the fox a second time - he didn't know if it was his returning to his prior position that brought back the thoughts of a few moments ago, a result of the intimacy she was showing or just his mind giving him a much-needed poke - but the warmth in his heart became a touch more sourer, and his fur stood a little more on end.

As he felt Judy burrowing deeper into his fur to sleep, Nick finally drew himself from his thoughts, looking down towards with concern and unease written across his features, taking a slow breath in as he reached out and touched her on the shoulder. "Carrots?"

Judy turned up towards him, raising herself up a little and supporting herself by leaning on his chest, looking towards him openly.

"I... I've got something I need to tell you. I should've told you earlier - _I know_ I should've - but, the right moment just never seemed to come up and ~" He sighed deeply, raising a paw and rubbing it against his head; lowering the other to rest on the rabbit's smooth, soft back. _Now isn't the time. But there won't ever be a 'time'. Don't kid yourself, Nick, months could go by saying to yourself you'll tell her later._

"Judy, I... you _know_ I love you. You _know_ you mean more to me than anything else I have; that I would do anything, go any distance to be with you and keep you safe."

Her expression soft and unimposing, the rabbit reached and took the fox's left paw, fondling her fingers against the metal band of the engagement ring. "It's about this, isn't it?"

The fox nodded his head in the darkness. "I know I should've said before now, but I just didn't want to hurt you over it, and-"

"Nick, it's okay," she said, quietly. "I _know_ what the matter is."

"You... you do?"

The rabbit nodded, putting her paw on his shoulder reassuringly. "Marriage is a big step in a relationship. I can't blame you - and I don't blame you - for not feeling ready to go that far yet. So long as we can be tougher I'm happy; you don't need to rush into anything you feel-"

"No, Hopps. No, that's not it." Holding her gaze, the fox raised his paw and put it on the one Judy was resting on his shoulder. "I want to marry you Judy - of _course_ I do, that'd mean so much to me - and I am ready for the commitment; I am ready for the challenges and rewards it brings."

"Well... if you want to marry - if you feel ready to marry - what's stopping us?"

"I... look, Carrots, I have _tried_ ; I have tried _every, darn, venue_ in the city to find somewhere that'll host our wedding, and they all say the same thing: 'I'm sorry, but we can't do a fox-and-rabbit partnership'. It's legal, but apparently just too 'unnatural' or some crap."

The rabbit looked at him quietly for a few long moments. Her gaze turned away, her expression blank, and she slipped down from lying on the bed to sitting on the edge of it, her feet dangling in the cool air as she looked down thoughtfully at the carpet.

He'd been afraid for a long time how she might take it; how much it might effect her. The fox rolled over off the bed, standing and moving quietly around to her side, sitting on the edge of the bed close beside her in the soft, blue darkness.

"That's what you were doing...?"

Nick sighed, softly. "I'm sorry, Judy. I never meant for this to go on for as long as it has."

She turned slowly up towards him, her eyes soft and her expression fond, though the fox didn't notice with his eyes low and focused on the foot of the bed.

"It started a long while ago now: we'd been engaged for a few days or so and I was still filled with, you know, the giddying joy of it all. Then I set about looking for someplace that'd take the two of us. I found a few nice places and was just ready to show them to you, when I happened to mention what species we were and the system... the warmth and the replies I was getting from the company... well, it just sorta froze up. Eventually, after a lot of time pushing for answers, they told me they didn't have facilities for... that is, for a _marriage_ between a fox and a rabbit.

"I was pissed, obviously, but 'No big deal', I thought. I thought it'd be best I didn't mention what'd happened to you as it was just one little company being a bunch of pricks and I didn't want to upset you. So, I got in touch with a couple more venues; they told the same story, so I got in touch with a few more, then a few more after that, then a week passed, a month, and now..."

"So a 'good time' never came up?" Hopps said. "Why say this now?"

"I don't know," he muttered, answering without thought in his frustration, "Julia, I guess; saying about her and her husband, Pontique and his wife, and that Barton lady talking to you something about her husband."

"You heard that, huh?"

"Only enough to know there's more you're not telling me," he said wryly.

Judy smiled at him, but then her mind returned to the moment at hand, and she turned back to the darkness as she shook her head in distant disbelief. "All those nights, all those hours and hours you spent downstairs on the computer... you weren't catching up on paperwork or researching at all, were you?"

"I'm... I am sorry, Hopps. I'm sorry for-"

Putting her paws on his cheeks, Judy pulled his head close to hers and put a soft kiss on his lips. "Sorry for what?"

The fox considered for a long moment, his eyes fixed with the amethysts of the rabbit. A small, perhaps even nervous grin appeared on his features. "Sorry for trying to be the big hero who solves all our problems on his own."

"It's all well and good being sorry... but did you learn anything from it?"

"I think so, Hopps," he said, softly. "I mean, I've known for a while now it's important we communicate and that we don't hide anything from the other person. But, I guess, it's an easy thing to fall in that trap, that little sub-clause, if you will, that makes you think it's okay or 'for the best' to hold something back... but that lie, even if it's a small one, can set a dangerous presidency no relationship needs. Even if it's not important, Carrots: from now on, if there's something that bothers me, I promise I'll let you know."

Judy smiled, fondly. "...and so the big foxy-hero fends of danger and saves the world after all," she teased. "Now stay tuned for next episode, Batfox "

"Yep, 'same Fox-time, same Fox-channel. The worst is yet to come'. Heh, even got a little moral message thrown in for the kids."

"Always been a big part of kids' TV shows, Nick."

"Yeah," he chuckled, "now let's do a string of commercial breaks and brainwash everyone into buying more crud. 'Presenting the amazing Truth-Finder, this country hick can spot deception in even the most hardened foxy-conmammal. The Judy-2000 even comes with realistic sound effects and opposite ears!"

Nick waited a few moments while the rabbit's soft giggling died down, putting his paw softly onto her shoulder to sober her as he looked meaningfully into her expression. "Anyway, speaking of 'truth telling' and the little moral we've got here... isn't it about time you told me just what Barton said to you before you left?"

Judy looked softly into the fox's expression for a few, considering moments. She opened her mouth to reply-

 _Trring tring! Trring tring! Trring tri-  
_

After a grunt, Judy reached to her phone, tock it up and pressed 'answer' _.  
_  
"Hopps. Bogo here. An update on the 'Miller' situation. Thought, since you'd already put so very much time and energy into the case, you might want an update. If you can fit it in your busy schedule."

Judy hid her sarcasm and held back the first few 'comments' that came to mind. "Oh, thank you Chief. Go on."

"A-hem. At sixteen hundred hours, Clawhauser, who was investigating the company records, discovered the full name and address of Mister Thomas Miller on the company records."

"They publish where their workers live on their website?" Hopps said.

"We received an e-mail from Ian Letts, the manager, containing information on all their former and present staff. They had his details still on record. It also stated some very... interesting information about the circumstances of his recruitment, his resignation and his activates on the day of Mister Andrew's murder. I suggest we meet back at the ZPD to talk it through with you."

"Right," Judy said urgently, fear flashing across the fox's face as she started sitting up and pulling away the sheets, "give us five minutes and we'll-"

"Sorry, Chief," Nick cut in, turning Judy's wrist so the phone was against his lips, "Hoppsie here wasn't thinking. We're much too busy to come over now. Surly you can just give us a run down?"

Nick waited in anxious silence, waiting to see how Bogo would react and doing his best to avoid the rabbit's glare. After several moments too long, the Chief sighed, muttered something, and relented.

"Fine, _Wilde_ , have it your way. Mister Miller was, in fact, only on temporary work-experience with the firm. He is no older than eighteen; a college student studying mechanics at the East Zootopia Sixth Form College. As part of his course he was allowed to do two weeks work experience with a real company for his CV.

"However, after four days, it is reported he was sent - alone, and with nothing like the experience required to handle jobs without supervision - to the Andrew's residency. He didn't report to work the next day and a letter arrived at the EZSF College explaining the family had moved address."

"So what're you saying," Judy said, "that this kid, this student on work experience murdered someone?"

After a few moments silence, Bogo's voice came quietly through the receiver. "This requires further investigation. There are questions that need answering. For instance: why was he allowed to go alone to this job? Where is he and his family now? Why did they arrange work experience if they were planning to move house? And what drove him to perform a complicated instalment of a new gas supply to murder someone he'd never met, when I personally doubt he would've had the experience to install it."

Judy nodded, already deep in thought. "Is there anything we can do?"

"I have my officers actively perusing answers to all our questions currently. Your engagement is not necessary - we're perfectly capable without your help."

"Well... alright, Bogo, if there's any help we can bring, jus-"

"One final question I have my officers investigating ~"

"Yes?"

"Why did the gas start being emitted only once you and Wilde were inside?"

"The... isn't the timer set to about that time in the morning?"

"We found the timer settings. They're not linked up to anything. In other words, we don't know, at this time, where the controls for this gas fire are or from where it's turned on and off."

The rabbit was silent for a long moment, the wheals turning inside her head. "Wait, you're saying that-"

With a click, the line went dead.

"Bogo?" Chief? Hopps looked at her phone, her lip tightening before she rested it down on the cabinet.

"What's the SP?" Nick said.

"...it's looking like the gas might be remotely activated. As in, there was some beast with a control panel and a telescope keeping an eye on the house the whole time. As in..." her eyes filled with concern, she turned towards her fox... "it was a direct attempt at killing _us_ when the gas went off this morning."

Nick's face rising, he gazed at the far wall, his expression tightening and his brow furrowing as he considered this claim. "All just suspicions at this point?"

"There's no real evidence for it, but it seems to be pointing that way."

Nodding slowly, the fox licked his lips. "We're gonna have to tread carefully on this one, Carrots - extra careful."


	14. Stepping Stones

THUS WENT THEY forth, without letting to the place whereas they would be going, Reynard took the Cat tofor the outskirts of the old village. The sun was begging to setteth down upon the ground and the villagers had goneth from hereupon, and tho the Fox brought the Cat to the old well which was all dried up and had a system of two buckets attached to one another by rope, so that as one bucket went down the other cameth up.

"Sir Tybert, cousin," said the Fox, "creep into this hole and ye shall not long tarry that ye shall catch mice by great heaps. Hark how they squeak! Why, hearth them already I do."

"Down the well, Reynart?" spoke the Cat. "What business haveth mice down there? I thought you said you and Bruin the Bear would wait above ground for the time when they emerged?"

The Fox stood silent for all but an instant before an excuse to cover his mistake came tofor his mind. "You well speekth the truth, Tybert. This well is dried up of all water and is where the mice breed. Uptil now, Bruin and I have always had need to wait above ground, as Bruin could never fit inside. But now, as we are both of a size small enough to fit down, we may hunt these mice in a closed space and catch all the more."

Tybert looked fearful from the fox to the well. "I worry, Reynart, that all I shall get for my journey down the well is soaking fur."

"Nay, Eme. If it would please you, I shall go first into this long well. Holdeth fast to the rope, Tybert. I would not wish it that the bucket should start falling before I am settled within it." And tho Tybert grasped the rope with both paws and the Fox climbed inside the bucket. When he was settled, he told the Cat to start lowering him down the hole.

Half way down the hole, the fox spotted the other bucket going back up. He did nothing but watched it pass, and when that bucket reached the top of the well where the Cat was, the Fox landed upon the bottom of the hole. There was nothing to be seen but brick and mud, but he called out to the Cat above with a voice that was rich with joy.

"Oh, Tybert, there beet so many mice down here! If ye love well mice, these are fat and good. Come quickly now into the bucket. I shall get out of my bucket and wait here for you to come down. Quickly, for I cannot catch all these mice on my own!"

"I cometh, Reynart, leif Eme!" said Tybert, climbing quickly into the bucket and holding on tightly to the rope.

"Start climbing down, Tybert," called the fox as he sat in the bucket. "I have left the bucket and will see you when you reached the bottom.

So Tybert the Cat began to let go the rope between his fingers, and slowly he lowered himself down the hole; the fox calling encouragement until their buckets were side by side, half way up the well.

The Cat starred at Raynard for a long moment. "Reynart? Be ye not down the bottom of the well?"

"Forsooth, Tybert, is it not clear that I am here? Truly, if I were at the bottom of this well than I would not be here to answer that now."

"But for what reason be ye not down there, whereth those mice be comen from?"

"For the same reason you shall not be comen back up to the surface again, dear Tybert."

"And for what reason be that, Reynart?" spoke Tybert, fearfully.

"Simple," said the Fox. "Your rope is broken."

Before Tybert could move or speak in response, the Fox snatched out and took the rope on which the Cat's bucket was being held. Tybert cried out, but this was to no avail as the fox's sharp teeth bit through the rope which held him aloft.

Tybert, bucket and all fell like stones to the floor of the well with the fox gripping on tightly to the piece of shredded rope that Cat was tied to a moment before. The fell Fox grinned to himself as he heard the thump of Tybert's bucket upon the floor, and knew that the drop must have laied him dead or at least broken his body beyond being able to climb back up or call for help.

Lowering himself down in his own bucket, Reynard began pulling himself up by tugging down on the

* * *

Four hours slowly ticked passed. Though the passage of time went unnoticed to the Detectives of Phoenix Investigations, Nick and Judy, the officers of the ZPD worked long at the scene of Mister Andrew's recent murder. Inquiries were made, leads followed... the Chief of Police sat back with a quiet sigh against the brick wall, watching the sun as it fell without apparent speed to the horizon.

It would already be as though night time back at the HQ - the skyline blocking out the light of the sun early. But here, near the edge of the city and away from the tall skyscrapers deeper within, it would be almost possible to see the sunset itself.

Drawing his eyes back from that golden sight, the Chief looked down upon the report in his large paws. "Thomas. Young trainee. Installs a... radio-controlled activator in someones fireplace, replaces the mains supply with an in house gas tank, kills one mammal and tried to kill..."

His gaze wondered to the bottom of the page, his focus on the thoughts of his own mind now rather than the words on the page before him. "Assuming he's the one pushing the controls. He installed the system - that makes him an accessory to murder at least whatever happens, but - what's the range on the radio? Who's sitting at the controls?"

His lip twisting, the buffalo turned back towards the house, the pages of the report ruffling in his clenched fingers as he stepped into the cool darkness inside. "Snarlov?" he said; the polar bear to which he spoke turning on her knees towards him.

She stood from kneeling in the corner of the cupboard beneath the stairs, dusting off her large paws. Bogo leaned over her shoulder as she stood, looking over the pile of dislodged bricks and mortar; the scramble of wires that was visible behind.

The white bear dislodged a cloud of dust from her blue shirt, smiling at the buffalo as she stepped towards him.

"Chief?"

"Any progress?"

"I've unhooked the receiver from the gas pipes, sir."

"The radio transmitter?"

"Urh, technically just a receiver sir, it's one way."

"Any idea of the range it would have?"

"Difficult to say, sir; it depends more on the power of the transmitter."

"Come now, Snarlov," the Chief said, allowing a small grin to play across his features, "you're our tech expert! Can't you risk a little guess?"

The bear chuckled at the compliment, her paw raising to her chin. "The walls here," she muttered quietly... "plus it's pretty deep in the middle of the house. It's only a simple-coded message that'd have to be transmitted, probably... I'd say a house somewhere on this street," she said more clearly to the Chief.

"We knew that anyway, Snarlov; Hopps and Wilde were witnessed by whoever in control of this thing entering the building. Can you tell us anything else?"

"Custom-built model - a somewhat outdated design but custom-built none the less, and by someone who knew what they were doing."

"Someone with more training in electronics than Miller might have had?"

"Possibly; possibly not - we don't know his school records."

"He wasn't taking anything of that nature."

"But that doesn't mean he can't have an in depth knowledge of that subject now, can it, Chief?" Bogo nodded, huffing lightly. "I'll have to take it back to the HQ before I can tell you anything else," Snarlov continued; "give it a look under the microscope."

"I see. Head back there right away if you're finished here," Bogo said, nodding to the pieces of dislodged brick and mortar and the small device wired to the gas pipes within.

"One more thing," she said, handing over a small device to the Chief. "Let me show you this."

Bogo looked at the object in his paw. "The receiver?" he said.

"That activates the device still attached to the pipes, yes. I managed to run through a few diagnostics on it, and..." Pulling out her radio, the polar bear fiddled with the frequency for a few moments. She pressed

" _Ah!_ " Bogo exclaimed, his arm flinching back as his face twitched into a grimace for an instant. "Snarlov!"

His furious expression faded at the bear's continued chuckling, her face alight as the Chef's anger faded into a small smile.

"I should have you thrown off the force for that," he muttered, lightly.

"After finding out the exact frequency that set it off?"

"And what do you expect me to _do_ with said frequency?" he asked, his voice playfully terse and short tempered.

"Have a couple of radios set to this frequency; if whoever in charge of setting this device off tries to do so again, it'll send out a signal that'll be received on these radios. You may even be able to get some idea of how close or far they are. I'll see if I can knock up something for you when I get back to the HQ," she added, slipping past the buffalo; "something that'll log the location of the transition in its memory and give you a signal you could follow."

"A homing device?" the Chief said.

"Reconsidering throwing me off the force yet?"

"Hah, of course. Whatever would the ZPD do without you?"

"I dread to think, Chief," Snarlov said, disappearing around the corner with the radio-activated receiver in her large, white paw.

...

The clock clicked over to seven twenty. Her amethyst eyes glinting in the dim light, Judy Hopps reached over and flicked off the alarm half way through the first half second of it's ring sounding.

With a sly smile, she turned towards the fox sleeping behind her, listening to the quiet murmur of his half-disrupted sleep. He murmured something more, turning from his side to lying upon his back; the rabbit smiling as she turned towards him.

Slipping her paw around his long muzzle, the rabbit pulled herself up to lye upon the fox's warm, soft chest. She pressed her lips deep against his, her eyes falling closed even as the fox's lifted in slow surprise.

Judy stroked her other paw down the length of Nick's muzzle; along the sensitive fur and whiskers which set his lips twitching and his throat releasing a soft grown with pleasure, his eyes falling closed a second time - now in pleasure rather than sleep.

When their kiss ended, the two of them lay their in the soft darkness for a time, their breaths soft and deep; feeling one another warmth and the softness of their fur upon one another. Nick chuckled softly, his paw stroking down the back of Judy's lowered ears and down further along her spine. "Sleep well?" he asked softly.

"Better now than this morning. It's nothing a few more hours lying with my foxey fiancee can't fix."

Nick chuckled, warmly. "Yeah I know, Carrots. But come on, it's getting on for half past seven. It's gonna take twenty minutes to get over to Julia's, another ten to find the restaurant... we'd better be getting ready."

Nodding with only particle sadness, the small form of the rabbit rolled off the warmth of the fox's chest. Wilde chuckled, tussling the rabbit's ears and bringing a playfully frustrated glare from her before he turned his legs from beneath the sheets.

Hopps raised a moment later, joining the fox beside the wardrobe; taking up his soft tail in her paws as he selected an outfit for both himself and her.


	15. Smoke of the Past

WITH GREAT AMOUNTS of time and physical effort, Tybert the Cat clawed his way from the depths of the well. Having felt the bucket succumb to free fall upon the rope tying it in plaice being cut, he had leaped from the bucket and dugeth his claws into the soil and brick. He had slid down at great speed with the _movimentum movere_ of the fall until it had subsided and a number of his claws had pulled from his paws.

When the falling had stopped, Tybert had climbed back up the steep slopee, and had clawed himself up frometh that dark hole and back up to the world above, whereby he found the fox longeth gone and tho began he his journey back tofor the court, his journey made all the more painful by not just his bloodied paws, but the shame that he should be so easily fooled.

If Tybart now had ben given the chance to retaketh his pledge to the King to bring forth the Fox, he should much sooner have fled the country. But now, things were as they were, and the only choice given was to returneth to the Court and tell of his failings thereby.

Darkness was comen as Tybart limped back tofor the Court, and when those that saw him did so and the King was fortold, he cried out in great anger for the tricky of the Fox which he saw even before speaking to Tybert had come about.

"What manner of treason is this, Tybert," bayed the Lion in a voice which built quickly in volume, "to cometh back tofor my Court without your charge with ye; without the Fox whose presence I commissioned and commanded should be brought hereby for his villainy he hath done; Reynard, whose misdeeds and tricks are well known to all of us here?" Then the King paused, and he leaned down on his taloned staff of office and his voice becameth dark and powerful. "By what device, Tybert, hath ye ben ensnared such, for your paws bleedeth and your face speeks of great shame."

"Merciful Lord the King," whined the Cat, "have pity upon my soul for I meant no treason."

"Pity?" roared He, standing frome his throne, "Ye ask pity only because you knoweth yourself to be guilty! I care not what the Red fiend spoketh to you or what lies and deceits he played upon you, for your duty was to bring him tofor my court, and in your failing to do so you have brought great shame upon us all. Look not for my pity, Tybert - you shall find it a double-edged blade."

In great dread for his life, the Cat made to flee from the King's presence and was caught by Courtoys the Hound, who held firmly upon the Cat's tail and held him up tofor the King.

Tho stepped before them a strong and noble-blooded creature, and the King's fury reduced but to strong intent as his eye caught with that of Ysegrim the Wolf who said to the King, in terms most strong, of how he would pledge himself, with all his linage and friends, to take the fox by outright force and drag him, by hook and by crook, to the court.

* * *

With the sun settling down low upon the horizon and the moon holding full dominion across the sky, the russet-gray shape of a female fox stood waiting in the warmth of her living room. The clock ticked on, and she turned from the window with the softest if sighs - a breath of air released gently from her lungs, as she turned slowly towards the empty armchair beside the gas fire which had caused the death of her husband.

"I know it's selfish, hon," she said to the empty chair; "I know it's wrong of me to feel so piteous when it's you who... passed on, but..." Her eyes fell shut and a paw raised to press against her head. "I'm alright. I won't be alone. Nick, he... we'll be there for each other. I'll be okay."

A sharp pain in her eyes, the vixen stepped past the chair, took it out of her line of sight, and gazed down at the gas fire which once had warmed her and Harry's home. Now, it looked a cold and horrid thing. The surrounding wall had been stripped away and there was plaster and tools littering the floor. The pipes had been torn out the back of it and lay like dead snakes, coiled behind it.

With another sigh - a longer, deeper one - the figure of Julianna steadied herself against the tide. _Have to stay with it,_ she reminded herself; _have to find whatever monster did this._

She turned to the window, suddenly. A dark car pulled to a stop outside her house. Stepping back towards the window, she saw the outline of a rabbit in the driver's seat, and moved to the door, pulling down her long, smartly-cut coat from a hook and pulling it about herself against the night-air chill.

...

It had surprised both of them how quickly the day had passed. To Judy, it felt like only moments ago she had awoken to find an empty bed, and had gone downstairs to find the fox cooking breakfast who she tried - and failed - to sneak up behind.

It wasn't all because they'd been sleeping for the last few hours; it was how busy they had been and involved in the case they had become too. While both her and Nick did leave busy and full-on lives, they had quickly discovered, upon starting up Phoenix, that good detective work was nine parts research and observation for only one part action and chases.

It had been a busy day - not-at-all helped by the lack of sleep both had faced before - but the nap had certainly helped things, leaving both the rabbit and her fox feeling alert enough at least to look forwards to the evening and the company they'd be shearing it with.

Judy pulled the car to a stop outside the Andrew's residence, turning out towards the house as she spoke to the fox beside her, quietly: "Do we go in?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Nick said. "I'm not much up on the 'aristocratic etiquette' of doing things like she is, but-"

"She's coming," Hopps said, seeing the living room light flick off. Judy watched the figure, back lit in the glass door, for a few moments; then turned towards Nick, her voice questioning (but trying not to sound too interested).

"So... the Wildes' are aristocrats, are they?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, it's just," she said, easily, "you said before you never really met Harry and didn't know him at all, so if you know Julia might be expecting us to behave according to some kind of 'aristocratic etiquette', it means she's learnt it from _your_ family rather than his."

"Well, erh," Nick said, knocked off guard a little by the unexpected nature of the question, "I didn't mean _actually_ 'aristocratic', just that there's all these 'proper' ways of doing things in those kinds of circles."

"Uh-huh. So, your family _does_ act and behave in accordance with that of some kind of... more well-born, upper-crust kinda way?"

" _Urhh,_ " Nick responded, his gaze flitting out the window for a moment to see Julia coming down the pavement towards them, "what are you asking, exactly?"

"Are the Wildes', like... rich, or something?"

"No _-no_ \- we're not rich, Carrots," the fox chuckled lightly, before continuing in earnest tones: "A lot of us have turned out to be, shall we say, individually successful in what we've done, but the family itself ain't rolling in it. Sorry, Fluff: no massive inheritance if you bump me off in a dark alley someplace."

"What about in the past?" she asked.

"What about it?"

"You were complaining before about how you left because everyone else was stuck in redundant, outdated traditions. That means you've got a history," she continued, her engagement and intrigue growing, "and if Julia and the others are still being taught how to behave in upper-class circles, that implies a 'wealthy' history. Were the 'Wilde's' rich in the past?"

Nick's emeralds held Judy in an uncertain gaze for a small moment, his expression fixed as though he were unsure what emotion to feel. Judy raised a brow, Nick motioned to answer, his gaze averted to the window, and a sudden smile broke out across his muzzle as he opened the car door and stepped outside.

"Evening, Julia, you're looking wonderful as ever!"

"You too, Nicky, suave as always."

"Hiya," said Hopps, stepping out of the car likewise, a warm smile upon her face. "That's a beautiful coat," she said, politely, "where did you get it?"

"This is... one of Harry's design. I haven't worn anything made by him since he passed on. You know, Nick," she added softly a moment later, "there's a couple of wardrobes filled with shirts and jackets and things Harry left behind. He was about your size, none of it would fit me. You're welcome to anything you like."

"Oh, Julia, that's... that's real nice of you to ask, but I don't know if I should ta-"

"Please. I'd like to see it go to you, to a good home, someone I love. Better that than it sits up there unworn for years or get sold."

"Alright," Nick said softly, as Julia slipped her paws into his. "Alright, if it means that much to ya, I'll take a look."

Julia's emeralds held Nick's for a moment and then, without warning, she lent in close towards him and put a kiss on his cheek, a smile breaking on the vulpine's face as the vixen pulled her paws away and turned to the lightly grinning rabbit.

"I'm sorry to say I have nothing rabbit-sized I can give you, Judy - Harry never worked in anything other than for the _Canidae_ family."

"That's okay," Judy giggled, softly, "getting Wilde here a smart outfit to wear alone would be doing me a massive favor."

"Oh, don't get me started," Julia cooed. "I remember Grandmother trying to get him to wear his Sunday best when he was a cub - the _trouble_ she had getting him to put on a suit, it was a _nightmare_."

"C'mon, Julia," Nick complained, playfully, "don't give up all my secrets! Let's just... get going, can we?"

"I remember back when he was about four," she added regardless as the three of them boarded the car, "Grandma and me managed to finally get a nice jacket and waistcoat on him and keep him from taking it off until we got to the service, but it was really pointless in the end, because he managed to wriggle of my arms and took it all off again! Then Grandmar and I had to chase him, naked to the fur, all round the church while the Priest tried to continue the service! Giggling and growling all the time, he dropped down on all fours and weaved all through the pews. We had everymammal there involved in the chase by the end!"

Nick did what he could to keep his expression neutral as he gazed out of the window, but as the car filled with the laughter of the two females beside him, something between a grin and a grimace played across his features, his already russet cheeks taking an extra tinge of color. " _Julia~"_

"We always made him wear suspenders and a belt after that - it's left down here, by the way - whenever we had to get him dressed up, and made sure we gave him a jacket with a zipper rather than buttons - he always used to teeth on then until they broke off."

Nick's expression turned from playful irritation to simple acceptance, and he looked with an amused smile out at the road ahead of them, Judy's chuckling (quite uncontrollable) playing like music to his ears, regardless of what it was doing to his self-image.

"But he always - oh, what was it now? Just down this one, it's not much further - but for all that, he always seemed to like his ties. He wouldn't put on a suit jacket or a hat-"

"Made my ears hurt," Nick added.

"-but he was quite happy to put on a tie."

"Granddad showed me," the fox said, a grin on his face. "He taught me years and years ago; I always just kinda liked them; liked his image, even if not his strictness."

Julia smoldered. "You still got that Hawaiian shirt?"

Now it was Nick's turn to chuckle uncontrollably.

"What's with that shirt?" Judy said, after a moment's listening to Nick's laughter, glancing towards him with surprise. "What's the story behind it?"

"Oh," Julia mock-scorned, "it was the first thing he went out and bought with his own money when he was just coming to adulthood. Went against as many dress codes as it could. I'm not even sure if he really liked it, it's just it was a direct act of defiance to the rest of them; a statement he was _his own_ mammal now and that he was going to do what _he_ wanted to. By gosh it caused a ruckus," she laughed, warmly. "Never was one for doing what he was told. Even when he was small, he just had this air of defiance about him."

"Inner strength," Judy stated. "He stopped believing in himself for quite a while-"

"- _I'm sat right here, you know_ -"

"-but he's a very strong-willed and dedicated mammal, really. It's what got me attracted to him in the first place, actually - one night out in the cold and rain of the rainforest district, he stood up for me then, and... well, we can talk about that over dinner; that's what you've brought us here for, after all. You were saying?"

"Oh, nothing really," Julia said. "I guess he acquired his independent streak from his Mother, back w-"

"Julia," Nick interrupted, softly, "I think... this can wait for another time. Tonight's supposed to be about the three of us, not what happened back then."

The vixen looked between the fox and the rabbit sat in the seats before her - the fox's expression imploring; the rabbit's ears raised straight with intrigue. "Fair point," she said. "There'll be plenty more opportunity for that kind of thing, later."

Judy turned the corner according to Julia's direction, and she directed the car to a car park the vixen pointed out, pulling the car to a stop in the shadow of a sky scraper; her thoughts whirring inside her head. _'His' mom? What happened to 'our'..._


	16. A Sister and a Friend

I'm sorry for the long, long wait. First there was Christmas, then a friend staying over for a couple of weeks, then more excuses I won't trouble you all with. Ashes is back again, as is Paw in Paw. Distractions have been reduced; an updating speed more closely resembling the norm will be being resumed.

Thank you all for your patience,  
Mister Smail.

* * *

THO STEPPED BEFORE them a strong and noble-blooded creature, and the King's fury redyuced but to strong intent as his eye caught with that of Ysegrim the Wolf, who said to the King thus:

"My great and mighty Majesty, thy Lord the King, ye need not suffer the false lies and trickery of the Fox; he is but a lowly creature and his deceits are but of the nowe and shall last only for as long as thy say that it should. At your word, my league, the Fox can be swept from these lands with such exacting and ruthless vengeance that his slyness and cunning shall avail him not, and he shall be left with no possibility of escape."

So spoke the King, leaning back thoughtfully in his thrown. "By what means do you say we are to do this, Ysegrim Wolf?"

"My lineage is great and my influence reacheth far across these lands. I have many friends whom would swear an oath of allegiance under my banner if I were to call their names into action. I know not how many strong beasts I could amass within the breath of a few days, but I would say well that I could muster a force of more than one-hundred-strong by Thorsdæy, armed and armoured, and ready to beseech the Fox in his castle of Maleperduys."

So sat the King in deep thought for a long time, and his councillors and advisors stepped forth to giveth their opinions and thoughts on how to proceed, and were silenced and sent away post-haste with a low and dangerous growl.

With time, the King spake out to Ysegrim, "You do me well that you should put forth such, and were your assistance not so readily offered I might be of the opinoin such drastic action was the correct step to make - but your offer has reassuredeth me of mine great and trustworthy friends, and that this villainous Fox, this wilde beast, is of no real consyrn beyondeth that of an inconvenience which shall be tolerated up to a point, as the whims and whinings of small children are 'tolerated'.

"I shall give him this one chance more; if, unable to comply on the third time of asking he is, then, Sir Ysegrim, ye may summonth hither your beasts of warfare and take siege of the fell Fox's castle."

"Send me, mighty King," emplored the Wolf. "I shall be never distracted nor taken in by the Fox's slyness or false deceases, for my hate for him is so great I feel as though all the _'honeyed'_ words would falleth deaf on mine ears." As he spake those words, he sent a glare towards Bruin the Bear, whose gaze fell in shame to his furless feet.

"I doubt it not, Ysegrim," grinned the King, "but I do think ye would be over exacting in your duties, to such extent that I fear Reynard would come back in several pieces cleaved by the time of your return; that his lies and tricks would anger you to the point of violence, and while it is true Reynard the wilde beast duth deserve the harshest judgement we here can giveth him, we must retain our standards and give to him fair trial, that all might speak out and put their complaints against him."

"Sirkily, Noble King, your wisdome and justice is beyond that of all other beasts here. Who, then, shall ye send to fetch him in mine place?"

A sly smile of the King's own grew then upon his face; a smile which bowed ill indeed for the Fox. "The only beast among us who speaks with as much eloquence and cunning as the Fox himself. Master Bruin - Captain of my Guard - returneth down to the dungeons; fetch to us the nephew of Reynard. Fetch to us Grimbart the Badger."

* * *

It had all come down to this - this is why Julia had looked to hire Phoenix from the start, after all: to get back in touch with her once-closest of siblings. The fact that they'd uncovered evidence on the murder of her husband and that the ZPD were now furthering the investigation into his death was a great thing which filled her both with sadness and joy, yes - but she had already come to terms with the fact nothing was going to bring Harry back, and if she was forced to choose to bring to justice whoever did it, or to rebuild the bond she once had with Nick... it was _him_ , all the way.

You could only do so much with vengeance, after all.

She steadied her mind and emptied her sadness from her thoughts - tonight was about Nick and Judy: their relationship, not her's - and stepped down from the dark, sleek-lined car.

"Thanks, Nicky," she said to the fox who had opened the door for her, turning with a smile towards him as he pushed the door shut again; the Todd who then turned with worried startlement as Judy appeared behind him and tugged on his tail.

"And why don't _I_ get a foxy chauffeur?"

"I - I was then coming to open your door. Promise, Hopps!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." She giggled quietly, holding her arm out towards the fox; smiling as his arm linked around her's. "Save your strength, Slick, you've got some explaining to do. After you, Julia?"

The vixen chuckled; Judy's expression turning to surprise as the vixen held out her own arm towards Judy in a similar fashion. Judy's surprise quickly turned to something between a grin and a giggle as the rabbit reached out and locked her arm with Julia's, the three of them walking arm-in-arm towards the tall structure before them.

"It's _so_ tempting to swing you up between us," Nick said.

"Like a little fox-cub," Julia added.

The rabbit rolled her eyes to herself. _And I thought_ one _of them was trouble enough_. "Well, if it'll really be _that_ amusing to you..."

No further encouragement was needed for the two foxes either side of her to lift the rabbit clean off her feet and begin swinging her between them - all three of them laughing openly and with merriment as they made towards the restaurant.

"It's the eighteenth floor we want," Julia said, placing Judy back on her feet as they approached the door (the doormammal giving the three of them a strange look as they approached). They stepped inside, followed the grand, carpeted corridor and to an elevator at the end of the room, taking the elevator up into the sky above.

…

The main dining floor of the restaurant was several floors about the city streets, and the glass windows that surrounded the outer-most wall of the dining area still showed only buildings all around - as almost every other building in that part of town was taller than this - but the reds, golds, emeralds and blues of the city buildings still were a bright enough view to make the sight pleasurable.

The trio thanked the slightly aging butler as he helped them from their coats, giving them a slip of card with a time and number upon it before taking their outer-garments to storage somewhere while a waiter in dark, tight trousers and a white shirt escorted the three of them to a table somewhere near the centre of the large, busy establishment.

It was a small, square table (slightly longer than it was wide) and the two foxes and the rabbit slipped into comfortable, high-backed chairs, designed for only slightly larger mammals, around the clean, wooden table.

This part of the room was a shade darker than most of the other seats in the area, as they were against a large pillar, a structural support which blocked some of the light from reaching their table, but also blocked some of the surrounding chatter and provided a little more privacy from others.

Meals were ordered, and a warm feeling of kinship was felt between them all; and while Judy did have this continual urge to ask for more details, she was dubious about approaching it for fear of disrupting the mood of the evening.

She wasn't about to forget all about it, though. She knew there was something big behind it. _If I'd grown up to be a reporter rather than a Private Dick, by this point, I would've been digging into him for info like... well, like a rabbit._

Judy tutted, mildly affronted by her own slightly-speciesist metaphor. She realised, then, that the tut had came out loud and that two foxes were now gazing at her with brows raised.

"Erh. Just - just something stuck in my teeth," Hopps said, making a show of pushing her tongue alongside her gums.

Wilde (the male of the two) chuckled warmly at her expression. "Jus' adorable, ain't she?" he said, turning to the female Wilde as she snickered, quietly.

"It may or may not be 'correct' of me to say so while she's sat two feet away," replied Julia, easily, "but I concur: she certainly has something about her that sets her apart from the average doe." A few seconds passed of the two foxes gazing at Judy (with Judy trying to gaze at nothing as heat built around her neck) and then the vixen turned to the todd and asked: "Were you always oriented towards rabbits or prey in general?"

In the moment it took for Nick to open his mouth, Julia had turned suddenly towards the rabbit and interrupted his response with: "I'm sorry, Judy, I'm sorry for that - I didn't mean to say it like that, it's just that's what we used growing up - I meant to say herbivores; it wasn't, I didn't mean anything by-"

"Julia, _Julia_ , it's okay, it's fine. I don't mind what you call me - I've put up with being called Carrots, Whiskers, Fluffball, Cottontail and god-knows what else by Nick these past couple of years - I've got nothing against being called a prey." The rabbit smiled, reassuringly. "And to answer your question," she said, "neither of us were especially interested in each other's species before we met. Actually, it was... kinda awkward to begin with, him being around a rabbit; me with a fox. It took us a while to get used to the way each other looked, a little while finding it hard seeing the other as physically 'attractive' - but the physical attraction wasn't important. We had an emotional attachment, a strong one, and the... _love_ of the way he looks just grew over time."

"So how did this start?" Julia said. "When did you both start feeling like there was something 'more' between you?"

"Well, for my part," Nick said, his voice smooth and sweet as honey, "I knew from even before Carrots here had quit the ZPD. It was just... everything about her: her mind, her personality..." Reaching out a paw towards her, the fox slipped his fingers in between the rabbit's. "I guess what started it all of for me was simply that she cared about me. She actually cared about and trusted me, some sly fox, where most people wouldn't even want to give me the time of day. She's just so darn special, so darn important to me."

Judy sat, her small smile growing wider and wider at the fox's words.

"One night," Nick continued, "a couple of weeks after we'd first met and a few days before Phoenix Investigations opened up its doors, me and her – she was spending the night round my old place, she'd left her apartment and it was just a day or so before our new house was ready, so she'd moved all her things over to my place and was gonna spend a couple of nights there."

"It was so late," Judy took over. "Nicky and I had been out all day; he wanted to show me the sights of Zootopia, I still didn't really know the place at that point. We didn't get back round Nick's until about one, two o'clock in the morning? The first thing he did when we got back was to flop back into his sofa and put his feet up. I was too tired to think better of it - and it was very cold out that night - so I just flopped down into the sofa right beside him, wanting to get close for warmth."

"I think I managed to stay awake a little longer than Fluffy here did," Nick said, "but the last thing I remembered before falling asleep that night was watching Judy, just gazing at her as my eyes drifted shut. Neither of us meant to sleep right there on the couch, but I guess we both must've moved about during our sleep that night, 'cause when I woke up that morning - well..."

The fox gazed with a charming grin at the rabbit, waiting for her to finish that sentence for him; enjoying how flustered it made her finding it suddenly being 'her turn' to talk.

"Wh - well, I woke up _aaand_ Nick was there, and so was I-"

"With her arms kinda wrapped tight around my neck with her head snuggled up into my chest. And my paws holding her close against my fur. Yeah, she woke up in an aura of my warmth and me in her scent. She woke up that morning, opened up her eyes, took one look at me and k-"

"And then _you_ kissed _me_ , Nicky dear," Hopps stated, flatly. "And before you 'forget to mention it' I may as well just let Julia know you spent several minutes animatedly trying to apologise and pacing back and forth and worrying you'd freaked me out while I tried to calm you down enough to tell you I wanted to be close to you too."

"Alright, Carrots, so I kissed you – I thought I was dreaming; didn't believe I'd ever get see you against me like that – have it _your_ way."

"The truthful way, you mean?"

"Geez, see what I have to put up with, Julia?" he mock-grumbled.

"I daresay she's worth it. It's not like she doesn't put up with a lot from you after all. Ohh the trauma you put Grandma and I through when you were growing up."

A few moments of quiet passed between them; a few quiet moments of Judy wondering to herself if she felt happy to ask the question she wanted to ask. She realized it could interrupt and even spoil the enjoyment of the evening, depending on how well or badly the question was taken. She remembered the fox's words from earlier, though; remembered the promise he'd made to be always truthful and honest towards her, and decided that this moment, now, was as good as any other to voice her question. She opened her mouth and started to form a sentence, the foxes looking towards her as she tried to think what to say - so many questions, so many aspects she wanted to know about.

She didn't know where to start, so she broke down her question to its barest bones, sought out the underlying construct of what she wanted to know, and voiced it in the simplest, most direct way she could think of… "So, what's the deal with you guys' family?"

Nick's expression went to Julia, a look of subtle tension on his expression; Julia looked to Nick, her expression much calmer and a soft, possibly even reassuring smile on her soft-featured expression. "My family, Judy," she began, slowly, " _our_ family, the Wildes – we _are_ …"

"A bunch of self-styled aristocratic nut-jobs?" Nick muttered.

" _Nicky._ "

"Whaaat? Curses, ceremonies, outdated philosophies and outlooks. They're pretty screwed up."

"You're a Wilde too, remember."

"My last name's Wilde, yeah," he stated, "but I'm not one of _them_ , not since I left those seventeen years ago. That's the one thing I think all of us can agree on – remember your wedding? Didn't even want to look at me, or me them."

Julia's lips tightened, but her fond smile remained. "Either way you look at us – be it a bunch of 'nut-jobs', or a tightly-nit society of higher-minded, highly-respected vulpines and vixens – it can't be argued that the Wildes aren't fairly 'different' from the average family."

"Got that right," Nick muttered to himself, his voice trailing away to silence as he gazed down at the table top, "bunch 'a _wacked-out (crazy-ass ff…)."_

"It's run with a very unique structure," Julia continued, ignoring Nick's continuing mutterings, "something like a family, something like a school, and something like a monarchy. The head of that 'school', to put it one way, is the head of the Wilde family who, upon becoming head, is known by the honorific title of 'Reynard' for historical reasons I won't bore you with now.

"The title of 'Reynard' and leadership over the Wilde family is handed down like a monarchy: when the current Reynard dies, his title is handed down to his firstborn son. If there's no sons of his line, it's handed to his oldest brother, or one of his sons. The 'Reynard' is always a male, you see."

The waiter approached and dealt the mammals their food; the vixen pausing and using this as an excuse to allow the rabbit to think, her mind – sharp and sift though it was – struggling to grasp the odd ritualistically of what she was hearing. "So when… when your Grandpa dies, his first born son will be Reynard'?"

Her gaze lowering to the table top, at the bowl of hot soup which now lay steaming before her, the vixen cleared her throat, softly. "Ordinarily, yes," she said, "if it were not for the fact our father – mine, and Nick's, Reynard's first born – passed away a few months ago." She turned slowly to the vulpine who sat stunned beside her, reaching across and resting her paw on his. "I'm sorry, Nicky. I tried to get in touch with you when it happened, but-"

"He's… Dad's gone?"

Judy's mouth partly dropped open. Julia bit her lip, reached out her paws, and embraced her blood. "I'm sorry, Nicky. I should've said sooner, but… the right chance, it just never…"

"How did it happen?" he said, his voice softened by sorrow, his paw slipping around her back.

"It was a car accident, wasn't his fault," Juila said, her voice pained. "He was out driving by the riverside, it was late. He got to the top of Eve Hill – remember that place?"

"Narrow road on a long steep hill, yeah I remember. I remember the trees that run either side, the little white fence, how the bottom of the road turns off sharply at the end, with that long drop into the ocean below for any poor unfortunate unlucky enough to miss the turn."

The vixen nodded. "You've summed it up already," she grimaced. "He was driving alone down that road on Eve Hill, his brakes… failed. Just like that little white fence 'failed' to stop his car going straight off the edge. Smacked straight down into the water. He – _hmm_ – he didn't manage to get out again."

The soup became slowly tepid in the mournful displeasure that followed.

"So he was visiting the family? He was living with Mom last I heard."

"Granddad became quite badly ill for a couple of weeks over the Christmas – the cold, you know. He came over to look after him and spend some time with him… probably also so he was ready to step into his place if he passed on too, to be honest."

"But – but Nick," Judy spoke up, "if your dad was next in line to be Reynard, and he's passed on, you're-"

"The next Reynard?" Judy gawped, but managed to nod. Nick turned with a sly smile towards Julia, shrugging impassively as he nodded for her to speak.

"Sorry, Judy," Julia said, an apologetic smile on her muzzle. "Under normal circumstances, yes, but our Nick… that is to say, Nicholas Wilde over here is, erm…" Doubt entering into her thoughts, the vixen looked to the vulpine. "I think you should be the one to tell her, Nicky. If you feel ready to."

Nick held her careful gaze and familiar green eyes for a few long moments, then nodded softly and looked towards the even more familiar amethysts of the doe. "I'm a bastard son, Carrots, a _fils de bast_. Dad had two kids, Martin and Julia, with his wife, Wilma Wilde, who left him, after he stol-"

"Our Father's called Alexander," Julia said. "He met Mother at work, she was a major shareholder at the company he was working for, and he married her for business gains first and personality second. Nevertheless, he stayed with her for a few years and had Martin and me, before Wilma found out about his real 'motives' for wanting to marry her and leaving him. Now, that could've been it but, sadly for all of us, what we didn't know at the time was that his firstborn, Martin, my brother, had a degenerative disease. By the age of two he was bedridden and he died shortly after he was three."

"I'm sorry," Judy uttered, her head lowering and heaviness filling her heart – it was selfish of her to think it, she knew, but, with what Mrs Barton had said to hear earlier still clear in her mind, she couldn't help but imagine if it were her own and Nick's child who had died so traumatically.

A warm paw placed itself on her shoulder. Judy looked about at the red fox sat beside her, took in his soft smile and reassuring presence, and looked back towards the vixen.

"It sounds cruel to say, but… it really was too long ago for me to remember it – him or Mom – I can't say I feel much sorrow about it, though, of course, I wish he hadn't passed like that." Her eyes lowering for a moment, she breathed a soft breath. "Anyway – when Alex, our Dad, realised he didn't have a son who could take the Reynard name after him, he started dating again and met a very kind and sensitive and caring lady called Sophie Wayy. They were very happy together, and it wasn't long after they started dating that she became pregnant with our handsome Nicholas here.

"Obviously wanting him to be a legitimate heir, Dad and Sophie made arrangements for their marriage but, sadly for everyone – it all got _very_ messy, really – because of an 'anonymous letter' that arrived to the church priest on the day before the wedding, which could only have come from my own mother, it became public knowledge that he and Mother had never legally divorced, which would've rendered his marriage with Nick's mother void. There wasn't any time to do anything about it before Nick was born, so the only thing he could do was have him as an illegitimate son."

Judy nodded, trying to keep on top of all the new names and facts she was hearing – yet absorbing everything she'd heard at the same time, a habit she had picked up over the past year's private detective work. "And it's because of that, his so-called 'illegitimacy', he was treated badly and left the others?"

"No-no, Judy, no. Nicky was never ill-treated because Dad and Sophie weren't married when they had him. It pretty much forfeits his chances of becoming Reynard - even if he'd kept up good relations with all his siblings, they'd _all_ try and get their hands on _that_ – they'd have solid grounds to dispute his right to become Reynard when that time comes and there probably wouldn't even be an argument about it, but he separated himself form them simply because of…"

"Moral reasons," Nick said. "Mom didn't want me growing up in that environment, I didn't either. She let me decide; I chose 'real life'. See… I mentioned to you before, Hopps, about how the Wildes always seem to have believed in home schooling? Well, at the age of around three, we're taken from our parents to this big old house in the country in the middle of nowhere and they're taught the 'wisdom of the world' by Reynard and whatever other parents were available and not tied down by jobs and stuff."

"Dad and Sophie came and helped out teaching us alongside a few other parents," Julia continued. "There were thirteen of us, half males, half females, with-"

"With me as the odd one out – the youngest, and not even a real Wilde."

" _Nicky, hush_. We were all treated, and raised to treat each other like siblings to keep the family close and tightknit, but Nick's my only real blood-relative; the rest were all 'honorary siblings'."

"All brought under the grand majesty and profoundly sanctimonious, self-righteous assurance that all uth 'pure-minded' Wildes are better than everyone else we meet."

"They never taught us that!"

"It's what they _all_ think of themselves, Julia Sis. Even Gramps – and I liked that nutty old Todd."

"Nick, Reynard is not a-"

"He's an eighty-something-year-old fox who talks about a medieval curse and thinks himself the Larico El Doumallia. That's the description of a Nutt, isn't it?"

Seeking for another source of conversation before the vulpine's pokes at her family's infrastructure caused her to lose her temper, the vixen turned back to the quietly observing rabbit sat before her. "Nicky has 'different' views on the things the family teach. He picked them up from his mother, who hadn't spent enough time with Dad before having Nick to come to truly understand the meaning behind it all. And also because, despite her kind and sensitive nature, she was also quite rebellious to doing what she was told; something I think Nick picked up from her."

"Yeah," he grunted, " 'cause I didn't pick up any capacity for 'thinking for myself' from the Wildes' side."

"Sophie wanted him taken out of Reynard's care from day one, seeing the 'ideas' that he was going to be taught, but Nick was enjoying himself at the time and she didn't want to take him away from mixing with his siblings or interrupt what was, at that time, simply a matter of teaching him normal, every-day skills like English and Maths."

"The option to leave was always there," Nick added, "but Mom was smart enough to know that if she'd dragged me away from Reynard and the others when I was still enjoying myself and too young to know better, I would've hated her for it and questioned and doubted her reasons for taking me away. She let me stay. Put up with dealing with the mind-set she had to deal with from the Wilde family. She let me mature, let me decide for myself if what they were preaching was real or a load of horse-fluff Medieval-mumbo-jumbo.

"As I got older, I started seeing the craziness and the fluffed-up attitudes in the parents and their kits more and more. Like something from a medieval fantasy, or the Freemasons. I reached fourteen, the lessons we were being taught started becoming less about adding up and knowing your letters, and became more about deceiving people and finding loopholes in the legal system.

"I got scared, Judy," Nick said, earnestly, to the rabbit beside him. "I got scared of what they might be willing to do for the 'cause' of _themselves_ ; I got scared thinking about what I might be turned into if I were to stay. It wasn't long into my sixteenth I went to Mom and asked her to get me the heck out of there. Heh… she already had a bag packed and ready, she'd packed it a few weeks ago, knew I was getting close to realizing just how nuts-oh they all were."

Judy gazed with held breath towards the fox, looking upon the ghost which hang like cobwebs around the edge of his express – small signs, barely there, but very noticeable to her well-trained eye.

"Nick," she began, her voice soft, "that's-"

"Is there some problem?"

The rabbit started, her paw going to her heart in shock as she looked at the leopard in a waiter's outfit stood over her shoulder.

"No," Julia said, "there's no issue."

"Was there something the matter with your starters?" The assembled mammals looked towards the table; towards the three full bowls of cold soup.

Julia slipped into a charming smile that Judy thought looked identical to the one so often worn by Nick. "The soup was lovely, thank you; we're ready for our main course now."

The cheetah stood silently staring for several long moments. Deciding, eventually, that 'The customer is always right' was more a point of view than a rule, he accepted that these people just had some strange outlooks on the purpose of a first course of a meal, took their trays, balanced them on his arm, and made his way.

The foxes' gazes looked towards one another; then, together, they turned back towards the rabbit. Judy had been thinking quietly the whole time; they could practically smell the 'questioning air' emanating from her.

"So what… 'power' _does_ the Reynard-thingy have anyway?"

"Pfft," Nick chuckled in a tone derisive, "none, Carrots, none at all."

" _Nicholas._ "

" _Julia,_ Reynard is a kinda-eccentric-kinda-cool old Todd who used to tell us stories. Yeah he can tell the others what to do and because everyone else – including you, sweet sister mine – seem to be brainwashed into believing he's some kind of king he does get obeyed and can get stuff done, but it's all just interpersional skills and respect for an elder; there's no _real_ power, nothing he could use outside of that old country house he stays in."

"Nick, I…" Julia forced her tone to soften. "Judy, our Grandfather, is the head of our household, the head of all Wildes'."

"Not this one," Nick muttered, bitterly.

"He is the wisest and most knowledgeable of us all, it is his voice who guides us, who plans the best steps we could possibly take – as a collective force of intelligent, independent and 'sly' mammals – to better our family. He looks out for all of us, and we all look out for and respect him. It, erm… it was actually Reynard himself who suggested I get in touch with Nicky when Harry passed on." She turned to Nick. "Oh yes," she said, softly, "he's been keeping an eye on you all these years; he knows about Phoenix, about Bellwether…" with a smile, she turned towards Judy. "Doubt he knows about your sweet little relationship with Judy, though."

"So his social power," Judy said… "surely, you can't inherit respect with a title, not if there's no monarchical power of some sort, doesn't every 'Reynard' have to earn that respect?"

"Partly, partly not. We're raised to respect and trust the Reynard. The knowledge and wisdom doesn't just belong to the individual, it's passed down from Reynard to Reynard – secrets, truths about our family, about the society, about the curse and Zootopia itself. Secrets, Judy, which, in the paws of someone who would abuse it, could capsize the stability of… _well_ , I'm not sure what the repercussions could be – Reynard has the knowledge, not me."

"There's a hidden room someplace," Nick said, quietly, distantly. "I spent a lot of my childhood trying to find it, I don't doubt it's there. _Heh – the one family story I believe_. Just a small room, a couple of meters square with a couple of bookshelves of age-old books, probably not even in written in English, most of it'll be Latin or French or something, with, from what I heard about it, this big old chest in the middle; what's inside ain't never been written down, Reynard alone knows what's in there, passing that down from Reynard to Reynard."

"Wh… what makes you believe that? What sets it aside from everything else which you doubt?"

"Hopps, whatever way you wanna look at it, and however crazy a lot of their ideas are, I can't deny that the place _is_ a damn old house and the Wildes' _do_ have a long, long history. We've not moved around much, kept the family pretty tight, and we were wealthy back in the day; the house being the type of house that it is, and it being made back in the time when those kinds of houses had secret rooms, it kinda makes sense there'd be some old books hidden in there."

"On what?"

"Dunno, Fluff. Imagine the most incredible secret information you could possible imagine… now scrap it and replace it with something completely mundane and irrelevant, that's probably what's in there. A whole lot of intrigue and build up and expectation for a load of old history books filled with wildly inaccurate facts and 'secrets' which are common knowledge these days. Maybe some alchemy books full of spells that don't actually work, maps to lost treasure that's already been found… really doubt there's anything interesting in there."

"Alright, so… what's his real name, the current Reynard?"

Nick chuckled for a second time; on this occasion, however, Julia allowed a small smile to appear too. "His, erh…" Nick started, trailing off as the waiter re-appeared and handed them their main course. "His _real_ name's Nick," he said, before muttering to himself playfully, " _I'm sure I know that name from somewhere…_ "

"Dad named Nicky after Granddad – I'm guessing as a way of trying to make the idea of his becoming Reynard seem more acceptable. It didn't work, but, it did at least give Nicky some added sense of affiliation with him, even picking up Reynard's fondness for bright ties."

Judy nodded, but knew she was starting to reach the limit of how much she could take in – she wasn't feeling stressed or overwhelmed, as such, but she knew her own mind well enough to realize she was approaching the limit of how much information she could take in at one time, and rather than asking more questions, she turned towards her plateful, and started to eat.

The foxes followed suit, and the meal was of such quality and warmth, and their stomachs were so empty, as little conversation passed between the three of them – only light conversation about how Nick and Judy had set up Phoenix, how they had chosen the name, found the building and…

"-and it was while we were up there riding in the cold sky air that he proposed to me," Judy finished, a beaming smile on her face as she wiped a few crumbs from the delicate, white fur at the corner of her mouth.

"You two really do have the sweetest relationship I've ever heard of," Julia signed, happily. "Nicky's a good Todd – a little rebellious, a little 'wild' – but he's sweet and gentle as anything underneath. He deserves someone as caring and cherishing as you. And you deserve a partner as warm and charming and him."

"You don't have to tell me how sweet he can be, Julia. I've found out time after time… _just_ how romantic he can be."

Judy gazed lovingly at the fox, chuckling as she spotted a subtle reddening of the tips of his ears. Dessert soon came, and was eaten quietly between them, with Judy giving her last spoonful of chocolatey-niceness to Nick (more than to embarrass him in front of his sister than for his own enjoyment) before the three mammals departed – as close, if not closer than they had been before.

"Thank you," Julia said, upon the edge of the curb that marked the end of the restarant grounds. "Thank you for such a wonderful evening."

Reaching out towards her brother, Julia wrapped her arms deeply around him. Nick's paws slipped around her sides as they embraced, and Judy smiled up at them both as they hugged.

The hug ended with the vixen sweeping her paw softly against the tip of Nick's muzzle, making him flinch back with a playfully-frustrated grumble as he rubbed his nose. Julia turned towards the rabbit and slipped down onto one knee before her, the fox putting her arms out towards Judy.

Hopps stepped forwards without hesitation, and as the warmth of the hug deepened the fox whispered into her ear: "Thank you for taking care of him, Judy. He deserves that much."

"He's the best mammal I could've wished for," she whispered back. "As long as I live I'll take care of him."

The vixen pulled back with the fondest of smiles, looking between the fox and the rabbit with mutual warmth. "You two really are a cute, cute couple."

"Yeah-yeah," said Nick. "Go ahead and embarrass me even _more_."

"Come on, Nicky, let's be heading back. I wouldn't want the two of you to miss out on another evening together."

Nick raised a brow and cleared his throat at the soft implication, while Judy just turned towards him with her playful, yet so-damn-alluring smile.

The drive back to Julia's apartment was quiet but smoothly comforting and enjoyable. When the car pulled up to a stop, the three mammals dismounted, and a hug was shared between the rabbit and the female fox. Judy waited by the car, watching with a beaming smile across her features as Nick walked Julia to the door, talking to her softly as she put the key to the lock.

She pushed the door open, stepped inside, turned to the vulpine stood behind her, and tugged him into a long, tight hug. Nick buried his muzzle close against her as they embraced. His sister was back. After being separated for so long, their lives had finally been brought together.

When the hug, at last, ended, the two foxes smiled warmly to one another – both with wetness around there emerald eyes – before Nick turned and paced back to the patiently waiting rabbit, and Julia moved back inside the darkness of her house.

…

The vixen, the widow, looked sadly upon the darkness – the cold, still air; the scent of a dozen mammals with no trace of her husband lost; the pile of bricks and mortar around the torn-open front of the fireplace… the armchair, the cold, empty armchair where her love had once sat.

A sharp pain growing in her chest – a pain which grew quickly, and had her gripping her chest as her expression tightened and her eyes welled with tears; a quiet sob escaping her – Julia Wilde ambled inside the living room and pushed open the blind, watching her brother as he re-joined his Love in the warmth and light of the car.

She was happy for him. She was so very happy he had found someone who truly cared and trusted him, and loved him with their life. She was thrilled she had managed to get back in touch with him, and elated she had been accepted back into his life, but that didn't stop her pain – that didn't stop her from wishing, _wishing_ with all her soul her compassionate husband were back by her side. She would've given up everything she had for a whiff of his scent; would've died to feel his warmth beside her once more; would've killed if it could bring him back to life.

Her head fell with a soft whine as the car outside drove away. With a dull _plat_ , a teardrop landed on the window sill. Nothing was bringing Harry back. Nothing. She turned back towards the wall with the open wound where the heart of the home had been, sidled towards the armchair which was not Harry's, and fell, lifeless as a rag-doll, onto its softness.

The softness gave her no comfort. She leaned back in the chair, her head resting on the wooden frame. The evening had been more fun than she'd had in months, but the emotional excitement had drained her and left her feeling empty. It would pass, she knew, but for now, she sat thoughtless with her eyes starring open at the ceiling, her breaths slow and her thoughts numb. And then, on the table beside her… her telephone started to ring.


	17. A Stalker and an End

A church bell rang a dry, monotonous tune; its hollow call echoing out over the darkness that hung about the village. A number of lights remained on in a few of the small, colourfully painted cottages that lay all around piques and slopes of this coastal village. The air coming in from the sea was earnest-smelling with salt, yet heavy with the chill.

Within a warm room, within a stately house that was still inside the boarders of the village – though sat among the trees on a steep hill high above it, nestled among the hills and looking down upon the streets and hills, the port below – the sound of the church's bell caused the flicking of an ear of a figure stood reading an aged book.

He turned up towards the small, circular window, blinking as he looked out at the darkness of the sky, the moon portraited in the centre of the view of the night's sky. The floorboards behind him creaked, and the soft squeaking of an approaching food trolley followed. The figure turned back down towards his book, a fond smile growing upon his long muzzle as the squeaking stopped just behind him.

"Good evening, little Angilo," he said, his voice smooth and warm to the ears. He didn't get an answer. "Suppertime, ay?" The russet-grey figure turned to the muskrat behind him, looking with warm but tired eyes towards him and the tray of food he had pushed with him.

"It smells enchanting as always," he said, his nose twitching at the scent of the meal that awaited. "I'll have it in my study." The muskrat lifted an impassive brow. "I'll supper with the others tomorrow, you know I prefer eating alone, in peace. I'll be through soon, I just want to finish this page."

The muskrat didn't speak, but lowered his brow into a concise expression of concern, a hint of doubt about him.

"I won't let it get cold again, don't concern yourself. Go serve the others, Angilo, I'll come through to my study soon."

The stubby muskrat bowed respectfully, his expression blank as he turned, reached up to the food trolley, and pushed it away again.

The russet-grey figure spread a fond smile towards him as the door closed – a fond smile which shifted into sadness just a little as the moments past. He drew a short breath, turned back around to his book, and continued reading the story penned on parchment and in ancient, dark ink:

* * *

GRYMBART THE BADGER anon was brought tofore the king, and he looked piteously towards his brooding and stately posture as he leanetehed down upon his taloned staff of office, durst not to speak a word for so knowing of the ferocious mood which may taketh him, and the danger such a mood would bring himself into therefore.

"Grymbart," spake the King, his voice steady as his gaze, "ye be a sly and wicked creature, with a twisting tongue and a selfish heart, but fortunately for thee, thyne uncle is of a feller and more shrewish _propendere_. See now before you Bruin the Bear, whose paws and ears are torn and bloody at the fox's paw, and Tybert the Cat, who layeth so piteously with bruises and scrapes all over, both done sore on by way of the fox's sly words."

"By what means hath Eme Reynard brought them to such a state? Bruin is such a strong creature! I should swear that any act Reynard so made was only in defence of himself, for that bear is such a mean and wicked creature and hath always begrudged his standing at your court, and Tybart, the selfish creature, surly hath comen this way only by his own doing, as recompense for the acts of theft he so oftentimes is prone to enact."

"Hold thy tongue, Grymbart, or so help me, God Almighty, I shall hear no more of your words and shall cast from this court and into the dungeons below. I should do so now, and should leave you for many years comen, if it were not for the service you are to perform for me, reluctantly or at your own will. You shall do it, or by Heaven and Thunder, your very life shall be forfeit. Ye shall bringeth to me Reynard the Fox."

"Ye lords, never shall believe I that mine Eme were so bad and shrewish, but I doubteth not your intent and judgement and will doeth that which I am instructed. I shall go at once to Maleperduys and thencely bring him tofor ye as a free mammal. There sirkily be some mistake, for Reynard is truly a great and noble creature. I fear that your humble servants may have trespassed unto you, and that they blame the fox only to avoid being found out for the treason of themselves, but I shall inform mine Eme without hesitation or reservation, and bring him hereth to thy court."

"And if Reynard the Fox should not comen," spake the King, "or if thy efforts to find him cometh up fruitless, then, Master Grymbart, it shall be ye whom shall answer for his crimes, and suffer the consequences and punishments of the trespasses that ben laid against him thereon."

Tho Grymbart spake, "So help me God, without rest for breath I shall take this message to Reynard, and bring him hither if it be the final act of my dying breath so to do."

"Now, go forth, Grymbart, and see ye well tofore, for there beest none here who should morn thy passing. Without doubt Reynard is a beast so fell and false, it would not passeth his _casus_ to see harm done to even family. He be so cunning, so wryly and wilde, that ye will well need to look about you and beware of him."

Grymbart said he should see well to do.

* * *

A contented warmth had settled upon the buildings and precincts of the city of Zootopia. A well-maintained car drove smoothly through the quiet city streets, the interior dark, the lights of the streetlamps above shining in the polished, painted metal. It pulled up slowly in the private car park round the back of a terrace of more expensive houses – with white polished marble and green slate tiles.

The inheritance stepped out, and made slowly throw the thick-shadowed darkness, the shorter of them fishing a key from their pocket, while the taller figure glanced around at the darkness about him.

"After you, sweetheart," the female said, pushing the door open. The male looked at her with a sly wink, then slipped inside, his foxy tail disappearing behind him. The lights flicked on – but only for a short while, as the rabbit and the fox slipped from their eveningwear and made the final check that the doors were locked and the windows were shuttered.

A paw on her back, the fox lead the rabbit up the flight of stairs, the air inside warm and the scent of one another soothing on their minds. "Come on, Nick," Judy said, her expression soft as she gazed up towards him, "let's get a good night's sleep for that holiday of ours. I think we need it."

"Sure we do, Carrots," the fox soothed. "I already unplugged the phone from the wall, and took the batteries out just to be safe – it'll be a miracle if anyone can self-book an appointment with us tonight."

Judy giggled, backing up into the bedroom. "Sly fox," she said, leading him in with her paws in his.

"Slyer bunny. _Talking_ of which," he said, allowing Judy to gently push him down to sitting at the foot of the bed, "just what _did_ that old Barton lady say to you?"

"Oh," Hopps said easily, but with a grin which made it all too clear she was up to something, "nothing much."

"Okay, I believe you, sweetheart," Nick said, with just a hint of cunning about his voice. "Well, seeing as it's 'nothing much', you'll have no problem telling me _all_ about it, no?"

…

In the darkness of the city streets, a female mammal ran, her footsteps fumbling through the darkness and through the panic of a danger unseen.

…

"Well…" the rabbit started slowly, reaching up to the fox and looping open his tie, her gaze never leaving his body as she pulled the piece of material away. "Maybe she _did_ say something about something she might've said.

"Oh really," he said, dryly. "Well that's incredibly informative of you, Missie."

"Something about not leaving it too late, maybe?"

"Okay, we're making progress – leaving what too la-" The fox's words were cut off by a pair of small, sweet-tasting lips pressing up against his. His eyes closed instinctavly at the sensation and his paws raised and wrapped around the bunny's small waist. Not ending the kiss, the rabbit pushed herself forwards until the fox relented and lay on his back atop the sheets.

"She made a lot of sense, actually," Judy sighed, her tone suddenly sober and her gaze firm as she looked down at the fox just beneath her. "We're both very dedicated to our work, this last year went by and it just felt like…"

"Nothing?"

Judy sighed, lowering herself to lay her head against her lover's warm chest. "It didn't feel like _nothing_ Nick, it felt like _everything_ , the best time I've ever had, the most important things of my life, meeting you, starting up Phoenix, us getting engaged…"

…

The female in the darkness stopped suddenly and threw herself flat against the wall, her eyes seeking through the darkness, her breaths panted, her long tail swishing agitatedly back and forth behind her. She raised a paw, and felt her side, wincing at the sharp pain, gasping deeply before pushing herself away from the wall and running further on.

…

"You're just worried we'll be so busy working we won't notice life passing us by? Yeah," Nick concurred, "I get that."

"She told me about her she and her husband had just never got around to… to having kids, Nicky." Judy watched the fox's expression as it slowly cleared into an impassive stare. His pupils weren't still, but moving back and forth, not looking at her but thinking inwardly. Her embarrassment overtaking her, the rabbit leaned towards the rabbit and tried to tiptoe away from 'that' topic to something far easier. "S _ooo_ , with that in mind: I was _thinking_ …" Her movements very deliberate, Judy Hopps leaned back just a little, pressing herself into the fox's lap.

Nick finally took _full_ notice of his current position, and his face froze up with something between panic and shock. "Woah-who-wo, _tonight?_ Just, 'like that' you wanna try for-?"

"Don't be silly, dummy," the rabbit teased, looping her paws around his soft neck, the fur around there thicker and warmer than the rest of his face, "we've got way too much work to do right now." She leaned forwards, bedding a soft kiss on his cheek. "Just something to remember, my foxy, foxy love."

…

The figure in rounded the corner from the darkness to a well-lit street, her emerald eyes glinting with terror in the headlights that followed her as she glanced over her shoulder. The car accelerated; the female sprinted, limping, her side stained red with her leaking lifeblood.

…

"I love talking about the future with you, Judy," Nick said, grinning wryly, "you _know_ I do. But, erm… the 'future' aside, why don't we talk about the 'present' for a little bit?"

…

The car raced past, the female stumbling back from the road as it closed on her, narrowly managing to dodge the hunk of speeding metal as it passed. She turned to the houses behind her, her head spinning with fear and adrenaline.

…

Her breaths slow, her eyes dilated, the rabbit pressed her muzzle against the fox's cheek and took a deep breath of his scent. _"_ The present…? _What about it?"_ she breathed, her paw raising and pressing, soothing, stimulating the fir just below the fox's ear.

"Well, _eerrhhh…_ " he moaned, his eyes drifting shut at the sensation, a soft shiver running down his spine and into his tail at her touch. "Just," he said, trying, _trying_ to keep his voice steady, "just you seem kinda 'pawsey' right now."

…

The car had started turning back around. Just three more doors to go. The figure dragged herself on, her russet muzzle parting with a moan of pain, trickles of red running down her legs from the gash in her clothes on the side of her chest.

…

"I think," she whispered, her cheeks flushed as she bit down softly on her bottom lip, "where those paws are gonna end up would interest you _more_."

The fox feigned a disinterested sigh, aware his true opinion was already fully known to the rabbit. "You want me to help you get out of your pants?"

Her gaze full with adoration, the rabbit pushed her muzzle up against the fox's and she smooched him deeply. "Get our shirts off first," she voiced, breathlessly, "I've always loved the feel of your fir against mine." As the fox smiled and his paws lowered to the hem of the rabbit's shirt, she moved forwards, smooching him deeper, more heatedly than before.

The fox turned over on the bed suddenly, pushing down against the rabbit who started grinning up at him mischievously, her eyelids lowering and her lips parting as the fox lowered himself back towards her and-

The intimacy was shattered to shards by a bout of booming knocking downstairs. The fox's face became a grimace; Judy groaned softly, her paws raising to cover her ears - as though pretending it wasn't there would make it go away.

"What do you want to do, Judy?" Nick muttered, nodding his head towards the bedroom door.

"They sound like they're in a pretty big hurry," Hopps said, the knocking growing more impatient. "We'd better go answer it."

"Garh, of all the times t'…" The fox mumbled something more, but even admitted to himself that, whoever it was, they sounded like they really couldn't wait. Reaching out a paw, he helped Judy off the bed and they made their way down towards the stairs, the fox calling out: "Alright, alright, we're coming!"

…

The female without bashed down on the door, her paw froze, her ear twitched, and she turned with a terrified lurch to movement behind her, her breaths sharp and rapid, her pupils narrowed. Her body hunched. Her expression tightened. She bewared the danger unseen.

…

"Whoever it is at this hour," the fox grunted, taking a key down from a hook on the wall, "they'd better have a _damn_ good reason for wanting us." The knocking stopped. His brow raising, the fox glanced over his shoulder to the rabbit looking on cautiously. He shrugged a 'no idea', clicked the key in the lock, and –

"Fugh!" The limp body of a vixen fell into the door, Nick's whole body starting back in with a jolt, his paws reaching to catch the falling fox as she groaned weakly. "Oh _fuhhff_ , Juh – Julia! What happ- how?" His breaths uneaven, his whole body shaking, Nick looked into his sister's vague expression and pained eyes.

"I – got a phone call, some… voice, told me to go to Toll Street, the road that connects to mine, went there, house nighty-seven they said, and-…"

Judy stood frozen in the doorway. Her police training taking over, she brusquely observed the fox's injuries and judged there was little either of them could to help her. It was a painful thought, but now was not the time to grieve for it. Disappearing into the next room for an moment, the rabbit returned an instant later with her compact, M&P Shield in her paws - clicking the Surefire torch on the rail and flicking on its bright, white beam.

"Come – come on, Julia," Nick whimpered, his voice a tone away from begging, "let's get you inside, you're gonna be okay, alright?" The vixen's reply came too weakly for the vulpine to notice.

Judy dashed out into the cold street, holding the gun in both paws at arm's length in correct police fashion as she made to the road, the intense light of the torch cutting through the darkness, flashing up and down the street as she checked either way, sprinting off in the darkness to search for any sign of the assailant as Nick comforted his sister.

"Come on, Julia, come on, just a little further to-"

"No, Nick, no – no further, I can't…"

Feeling her last strength giving away, the fox helped his sister down to sit against the wall, his paw shaking as he knelt down before her, his eyes pained and his breaths catching in his throat.

"It was," she groaned, her face wincing as she struggled to speak. "A badger – it was his house, the killer."

"Julia, please, don't waste your energy, we're gonna get you throu-"

"You _have_ to see what's in there, you _have_ to go there and _now!_ I saw, but he was hiding inside, managed to cut me, I fled, chased me to…" she moaned softly, wincing as she put a paw to the gash in her side… "chased me to here."

"I'll get the – we've got some medical stuff in the-"

The vixen reached out a paw and touched it upon her brother's muzzle. "Don't, Nick, no – leh… let me just spend mah, my last few moments with my brother."

"Julia, please, I don't-" The fox noticed her paw as she reached out weakly towards him, lowering himself closer towers her and slipping his fingers in between hers. "I don't want to lose you," he said, his voice breaking with tears.

Julia smiled, softly, sadly. "Forgive me, Nick. I'm so sorry I couldn't be the sister you deserved; I couldn't be there for you for all these years." The female turned tiredly over towards the street, a flash of torchlight sprinting past them as the rabbit bolted down the street in the other direction. "So motivated," she smiled, "so strong and dedicated. Don't ever take her for granted, Nicky. Appreciate who she is and what she does for you, always..." her gaze turning back, her teary emeralds locked with his... "Take care of her. And yourself. Promise me."

Nick looked down at the vulpine in his arms, stroking her face softly as her breaths slowed and she blinked up at him sadly, slepperly. "I will, Sis. I promise."

A faint smile grew on her features. " 'Sis'." She sighed, so very, very softly. "It's good to hear you call me that after all these years." With what little strength remained her, the vixen focused her gaze on Nick. "I love you."

A thin whimper escaping him, the fox's eyes fell tightly shut, tears streaking his taught features. "I love you too, Sis. I love you too." A smile crept onto Julia's face, a thin smile which faded slowly, until it was nothing but a blank stare.

Nick felt the change, heard the breaths wain to a stop. His gaze rose, his expression frozen. He looked upon the motionless, closed-eyed stare of the body of his sister, his chest tightened, his jaw clenched, and a shrill, whimpering howl escaped him.

" _Julia,_ " the fox moaned, " _Julia, I… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry._ "

A flash of intense light caught his attention, and he looked over with dark, narrow-pupiled eyes as Judy stepped back inside, flicking off the Surefire as she stepped in, her breaths laboured as she looked between Nick and the body before him. "Nh – Nick, I've scanned the area, no sign of anyone, just a stink of burnt rubber. Is she…?"

"Yeah," he breathed, his voice wretched, "she's…"

Judy's face fell, her ears dropping and her gaze lowering to the floor. She shut her eyes, said a few soft words, and then cursed under her breath, dropping the gun down on the side and pacing over to the fox and putting her paws on his shoulders. "Come on, Nick," she muttered, softly, "let's… let's put her on the sofa, we shouldn't have her hunched here like this. Nick's gaze held on the face of the vixen. His eyes shutting, he nodded, his cheeks stained dark. "I'll get her legs."

"No, Judy, I got her." The fox reached out and looped his arm behind the body of Julia's back, hooping the other beneath her legs. He lifted her gently, her body warm against his chest. Judy watched, her breath held, her nose twitching with threatening tears, as her lover moved by her, his expression... lost, his eyes dull and his ears hanging low, his tail dragging lifelessly behind him.

"I'll… get in touch with Bogo."

Silence hung. The fox paused, and glanced slowly over his shoulder. "Not yet." Judy gazed towards him as the fox turned back away from her, paced over to the sofa and lay his sister, slowly, and with all the care in his deep, tender heart. "She gave me an address, Carrots," he said, his voice hollow. "The place where the killer lives. We're gonna take a little trip down there, say hi."

"Nick, _no_ , it's too dangerous, we _have_ t-"

"These are all stab wounds, Hopps; we have guns."

A cold shiver ran through the rabbit's body, her gaze unmoving upon the fox's stone cold expression. The pain in his eyes. The stains down his cheeks. "Al – alright, Nick. Alright, I'm with you on this. Let's bring whoever did this in."

The fox turned down to the sofa. Judy followed his gaze, and looked down upon the motionless, lifeless body of the vixen. She wanted to lock the door, swallow the key and keep her fox from stepping into the same danger that had taken his sister, but Judy could tell by the look in his eye and the sharpness of his expression nothing was going to stop him going to that house; the best she could do was to go there with him, and try and minimise any danger by staying by his side.

"Sick bastard," the fox spat, his muzzle raising, the tips of his fangs showing, "you mess with my sister, you take her from me..." He turned and strode down to the hall, took his gun, and loaded it with a grimace.

A part of the rabbit wanted to stop him, wanted to sooth him and tell him it was all okay. Then she turned back to the body in eternal sleep before her. Nothing was okay, none of this – she wanted whoever caused this just as much as Nick did, to get justice for Julia and her husband's death, to stop whoever did it from killing again… and for hurting her lover.

With a final glance in Julia's direction, the rabbit marched back to the doorway, took her gun into her paw, check the chamber and looked to the fox waiting just beside her.

"Where?"

"House ninety-seven, Toll Street."

"Okay, two minute drive. Long enough for them to get back. Short enough for us to get the jump on them."

With a final, long gaze towards the eternally resting figure of his most beloved sister, the red fox released a long, hot breath. He stepped past Judy, disappeared around the corner for a brief instant and returned with his sleek, SIG Sauer 2022. They didn't make a habit of dealing with problems with guns, but in their trade, it was necessary to own them. He reached out towards the door, pulled it open and made towards the car. "We'll call Bogo once we're through," he said to the rabbit watching with silent anticipation. "Want the chance to tear into this sick creature."

The fox stepped away into the dark, his ears tall points, his tail swishing jerkily behind him as he walked. Judy watched with a held breath a moment more, glanced over her shoulder to the silent figure of the vixen, looked down to the gun in her paws, gritted her teeth and followed behind her fox, locking the door hurriedly behind her.


	18. Where the Bell Tolls

I'm sorry for the waiting for the chapter updating, the delay has come from the progress I've been making.

See the bottom for more,  
 _Smail._

* * *

The sharp night wind carried itself on wings of ghostly silence through the steel and concrete houses and city blocks of Zootopia's streets. Toll Street. Away from the well-lit city centre, where the streets were narrower, closer, the buildings shorter and with broad, blocky architecture that looked grimly down upon the passers-by in the street below.

Two streaks of light emerged from somewhere down the long, narrow road. It pulled quietly to a stop alongside the pavement, and the soft rumbling of the engine soothed to silky silence. The door opened; the small light turned on inside; Judy Hopps looked with a frozen expression out towards the dark mass of brick and mortar that sat above them, her open mouth slowly closing as her lip twisted into a grimace.

In the rabbit's mind, every feeling, every instinct she had was telling her, forcing her mind to accept that something was deeply, deeply wrong. A buzzing energy filled the rabbit's stomach. It made her feel sick, made her want to puke. The silence was making her ears ring and the cold metal of the gun made her paw itch.

Nick breathed a sigh, pulling the key from the ignition and standing up, shutting the door as he paced towards the figure of the rabbit with a cooled-emerald stare. "I'm beginning to wonder, Judy," he stated, softly. "Beginning to wonder what strange fate has brought us to this house, standing here in the shadows. It's all come so suddenly, and gone again even quicker. Like it'd never happened."

The rabbit turned to her partner, her soul lined with sympathy as she reached out a paw and felt the softness of the fox's arm – the tightness, the tension in the muscles beneath the warm fur. No words came to the rabbit's mind: no thoughts of reassurance, no comfort, no advice… was the revenge worth the risk? Not alone, no, but if they didn't strike now, didn't go in there, they might never get another chance to take whoever did this in; worse still, how many more lives might be lost before he was stopped?

His gaze turning towards Judy, the fox glinted a smooth smile which looked of pain and slipped his paw inside his dark jacket, his paw sliding around the SIG pistol inside.

"You got your flash?" Hopps said.

"Uh. Not the fancy pistol clip-on thing you got me, but the one in the glove box'll do."

Judy nodded, the fox opening and reaching into the small compartment and taking out the sturdy, metal flashlight within. "How're we getting in there? Straight through the front door, or…"

The fox felt the weight of the flashlight in his paw. It was an ex-police model, designed to be as much a cudgel as a torch. "They're not expecting us, Julia said she went inside but didn't mention seeing any more than one person. Buildings round here, eh, they don't normally have that great locks, and by how dark it is, I'm kinda assuming the place is empty right now. I think we can take the front door."

"This is too risky, Nick, it's too risky," the rabbit breathed, her nerves giving way as she looked at that wall of shadow. "What if they see us coming, hide up somewhere, spring out and…" Judy trailed off. She had expected to fox to interrupt her, saying how obviously unnecessary her fears were and showing her how little need for concern there was. He just gazed at her, softly.

"No mammal ever said this was going to be easy, Judy; no one ever said it was going to be safe. I'm not gonna preach you with the old 'the lives we've chosen' story, if you're not happy doing this, we…" sighing as his shoulders slumped a little, the fox gazed down at the floor. "We can leave now and phone in Bogo if you want, but who's to say he'll still be in there when the PD finally gets his slow asses over here and get in? There's no direct probable cause, they'd have to get a warrant, have to make a briefing, convince Bogo about it, ahh…"

"Alright. I get it, Nick," she breathed, "I get it. I want them taken in just as much as you do." A small smile managing to creep its way onto the rabbit's face, Judy turned to the fox with a nudge. "We've been through more dangerous times together before, after all. Remember the Burgess Fiasco?"

"The contraband ivory chest thing, yeah. That could've gone _bad_."

"And you managed to talk us both out of it, got all seven of those smugglers to put down their guns and let us go."

"Yea _hh_ ," Nick said, adjusting the hold of his gun absent-mindedly. "Too bad for this guy I'm not much in the mood for talkin'. Obviously I'm ' _hoping'_ he'll be reasonable and come quietly, but if he _don't_ …"

"Whatever you need to do, sweetheart," Judy said, dryly, "I'll support you."

"Come on, Hoppsie. We've delayed enough."

Judy followed the fox as he stood, his casual smirk turned jagged by the cold, his expression a dark shape against the backdrop light-pollutioned sky. Looking up into the wall of solid black, the jagged silhouette, she cooled herself and steadied her mind. Panic was the worst reaction to a scenario such as this – calm, calculated readiness for anything was what was needed now. She tightened her expression, and secured her paw around the grip of her Smith and Weston Shield, her small claw teasing the button on her Surefire attachment. "Ready?" she said.

"Ready."

"Remember the training I gave you: stay close, keep alert, watch the corners. I'll take point." Flicking her claw, the intense beam of light radiated out from the powerful torch attached to her pistol. She darted forwards to the large door, its rough, wooden surface, as Nick flicked on his ex-police flashlight. Judy's foot collided with the door, its movement driven by the force of her taught-muscled legs. Intense light blinded the fox, a movement of stumbling, a high yep of surprise which made his nerves leap into his throat.

"Judy- _Judy_ -" the fox stuttered, trying to blink away the blinding spots in his vision as he dashed towards the rabbit. She lay confused, her dropped pistol's light shining up into the fox's face. Squinting in the light, unable to see any dangers in the dark, the fox hurried to help stand her up, his torch darting through the entranceway as he said, "What happened? Why'd you fall?"

"The door wasn't locked, Nick, wasn't even shut properly." Her breaths were shaky as she took her gun, steadying herself and her tension. "Threw me off balance when it opened, was expecting some resistance from it."

"You okay?"

"Pulled a muscle, I think – I'm fine."

Nick glanced towards the rabbit from his careful observation of the darkness of the house's interior. "Come on, looks like this is a two-story building, no signs of life, but we've gotta be extra careful now we'll have alerted anyone who might be here."

Hopps nodded, her composure regained as she slipped inside the door, the powerful beam of her light darting from corner to corner, from doorway to doorway. "Not a lot of furniture," she commented, "doesn't look like this place is lived in – more of a hideout, maybe?"

"Just a temporary place, yeah," Nick said, "probably chosen because of how close it is to Ju…" his alert gaze faltering, the fox's eyes fell closed, his head hanging in pain at the thought of his sister demised.

"You smell anything?" Judy said, Nick's faltering unknown to her in the darkness.

"Nothing much. Nothing fresh."

"Living room clear, now moving to kitchen. Watch my back."

Wilde fell in behind the bunny, glancing over his shoulder as they crossed from the main room into the kitchen, passing through the small hallway they had entered into, looking up at the dark staircase at its end. His gaze drew back to the present, looking intently at Judy as she crossed the threshold into the kitchen, his gun trained and ready should someone suddenly grab her from the blind corners the rabbit was passing.

No such mammals leapt out. The fox's gun lowered, his held breath loosening out of him as Judy checked the blind corners and found them empty. "The table, Judy," Nick breathed, his voice a low hush. "Big tablecloth."

The rabbit looked at the dining table in the centre of the narrow kitchen, carefully taking in the tablecloth draped over it; the space beneath hidden completely from view, with the cloth hanging down to close to the floor. She stepped towards it quietly and-

" _Psht_ ," Nick vocalised – a quiet, warning sound – stopping Judy in her tracks. He raised his finger when she looked over, making a circular motion in the air. Judy nodded, and circled around to the other side of the table. Several paces away, a safe distance from the table, Judy **kneeled** herself slowly down, and shone the penetrating light of her Surefire into the cloth.

Nick lowered himself as the dulled beam of light shone through upon him – seeing the silhouettes of the table legs within, but seeing no sign of a mammal hidden within. Convinced there was no one hiding under there, the fox reached out a paw swiftly and raised the hem of the cloth - just to prove to himself an already known fact.

"Okay," Hopps breathed, "first floor clear, as far as we can see. Check upstairs?"

Nick nodded. "Let's put some lights on," he said, "the shadows're damn creeping me out."

"No- _no!_ " Judy hushed as his paw touched upon the switch, the fox glancing towards her with a brow raised. "We don't wanna broadcast to everyone on the street we're in here. What if the killer comes back, they're not gonna come in if they see the lights on, not with what they've just done – they'd drive on and never come back!"

Glancing towards the light switch for a moment, the fox's paw lowered. "The upstairs, then," he said, quietly, stepping out from the narrow kitchen which ran parallel to the larger living room, and into the hallway – one end bearing the front door; the other, a foreboding staircase –upon the first step of which the fox's clawed foot stepped. The wood creaked. The fox winced. "Damn horror clichés," he grunted, his pistol and flashlight raised up against the darkness above him.

They claimed upon soft footfall up the steep, wooden steps. The air was of stillness, the darkness of silence, yet fear reigned strong regardless. They stepped up into the landing, their gazes looking into the unknown; their flashlights, daggers into the shadows that lingered; the presence of the other, a wall against the panic.

"Nothing this end."

"Looks clear this way."

"On me, then. Watch my six."

"Always, Carrots."

Her gun steady, her expression calm though edged with a gaze of keenness to all that surrounded, Judy trod on through the silent dark. The second floor was as lifeless and unfurnished as the downstairs. The bathroom was small, clean, scentless; but the bedroom, uniquely, had signs of life come and gone. The sheets of the bed were rumpled and creased, and a stark chair sat up against the window facing out across the street – a pair of dark binoculars sat upon the sill.

The fox sighed, the rabbit checking the last of the dark corners of the house for signs of life. "House is clear," she uttered, turning to the fox as he pulled aside the curtain, gingerly, in the darkness. He looked down upon the empty street, his emerald gaze dulled of light. The lips of his muzzle lowered in a grimace. "There it is, Carrots," he murmured, his gaze glancing upwards from the ground, upon the buildings he saw in the distance, before his gaze dropped down upon the sullen pavement once more.

The rabbit looked about at her lover in the darkness, his paw holding him up against the wall. Drawing a breath, Judy checked about the darkness once more, a final assurance of the safety of the moment, and allowed herself this instant of distraction, in this time of focus compulsory.

She stepped close behind him, and looked down at the pavement beneath. She glanced up, towards the fox's expression; she turned, then, directly out, looking up across the street. The line of houses opposite tapered away, following the bend of the road; revealing behind it the wider streets beyond; the higher-status homes dark and soft in the moonlight – the moon able to shine down upon them, for the lack of the tall buildings stood around. Judy looked upon the building which she saw, and her eyes fell slowly closed, her head coming to rest softly upon Nick's side, a soft huff escaping her.

"Explains the eyeglasses." Judy didn't reply, her head shaking, her free paw clenching to a fist as she pushed herself deeper into Nick's side. "Needed somewhere they could see Julia's place from."

His lips twisting, he looked down upon the binoculars, reaching out his paw towards them.

"Nick," Judy warned, "fingerprints."

The fox glanced to her, but reached out and picked them up regardless, holding them carefully by one corner as he felt the weight. "Military grade. Interesting."

"Come on, Nick, anyone can go onto ZeeBay and buy a pair."

"Professional gear," he commented.

"So was that gas mix-up thing he fixed up. Come on, Nicky, we already knew the perp was serious about this." Stepping away from the fox, from the empty house sat alone in the darkness, where the lives of two lovers had once played out, Judy gazed blankly at the bare wall. "What do you wanna do now, wait it out and see if anyone turns up, give Bogo a call?"

"One more room, Judy."

Her head raising, her alertness redoubling, the rabbit's torch-bearing pistol shone into the darkness. "Where?"

A small, wry smile on his lips, the fox pointed up to the ceiling with the beam of his flash.

"Damn. How the fluff did I miss that."

"You get so focused on your job, Carrots, so absorbed at keeping an eye on what's right under your nose, sometimes you forget to see what's right above it."

The rabbit looked down, flustered, frustrated, from the trapdoor in the roof. "Nick, there could've been someone in there! What if they'd pulled a gun on us or something, both of us distracted?"

"The scent's too old, Fluff, the air's too stale. Julia's scent is recent; can't smell anything else though."

Judy squinted, her gaze lowering to the ground. Her mouth opened; she looked up towards the fox with a brow raised. "But… "

"What's on your mind, Hopps?"

"So Julia's been in here. But then, didn't you tell me she said she was attacked 'from' here?"

"Yeah, she… did." The fox's gaze flitted side to side in thought for a few moments, his brow raising as he reasoned: "Maybe the guy just doesn't have a scent? I mean, obviously he _would_ so…" His brow furrowing again as his reasoning fell apart, the fox's nose started twitching, sniffing the air for any hints previously unsmelt. "Then there must be someone here."

"What?"

Trying to look completely natural, the fox passed towards the rabbit, his expression frozen as he moved to beneath the trap door above. "They sould've got back by now," he breathed, "there's no sign from outside we're in hear, I haven't heard the door move, haven't heard a car outside. The bed's been slept in but there's no other signs of life. The attic, that's where he is, living there, can't be seen from outside, can creep down when he needs to."

His tongue flicking between his lips, the fox placed his paw on Judy's shoulder, guiding her past beneath the trapdoor to the wall. "And if for whatever reason I can't smell his scent – which apparently I can't – there's nothing to say he's not above us, listening in, _right now_."

The fox span on his heels and raised his gun, the soft darkness exploding into piercing volume as his 2022 exploded its metal cylinders, discharging into the wooden hatchway. Yellow light shafted through the holes which appeared on its surface. The fox adjusted his aim and shot out the hinge. The trapdoor panel fell from the ceiling, a rope ladder tumbling down alongside it, opening itself out as an access way into the attic.

The fox glanced to the rabbit. "Onward and up, I guess." The fox stepped towards the ladder, his foot pressing upon the first step, his muscles tensing as he pulled himself up.

"Nick… Nick, wait, you've got no cover!"

"What do you expect me to do, Hopps, it's a ladder?"

After a pause of thought, the rabbit stepped up towards the fox. She pushed him to face away from her, hopped up, slipped her legs around his upper waist and draw her arm across his chest, pulling herself up on his back, raising her head a few inches above his, her M&P Shield in her free paw. "Edge me up - slowly, Nick. Anything happens, drop the ladder and we'll fall to safety."

"Hate having your life literally in my paws like this," he muttered.

"Bet you'd rather see it in your paws than in the paws of anyone else though, right?"

The fox chuckled, dryly. "Dumb, beautiful rabbit."

"Come on, push me up."

The climb up the ladder was slow and tentative, unaided both by the danger both felt impending upon them, and by the unstabilised, rope ladder, which shook and swayed cornerwise to the fox's every move. Eventually the head of a rabbit peeped over the top of the trapdoor, the muzzle of her compact pistol appearing beside her. Her gaze was dangerous and ready for confutation, and her alert scrutiny flicked rapidly across the room. Her eyes widened. Her expression cleared. Her mouth slowly began to drop open, and the gun lowered to her side.

A sound escaped the rabbit's lips – a slow, bewildered, sigh. Her head turned slowly about the yellow-lit room, about the strewn sheets and broken planks of wood, and the faces, which looked back upon her.

"Nick." She swallowed, her voice catching quiet in her throat. "Nick, get up here." She climbed up off the fox's shoulders, pulling herself through the small opening in the ceiling, drawing her legs up behind her and standing to gaze around at the faces surrounding.

Nick pulled himself up, his head emerging from beneath the floor. His expression froze, his body locked. Photographs. Photographs of foxes, more than a dozen of them. His face a mask of… blankness, Nick pulled himself up the hatch. The ceiling was low and sloped with the shape of the roof above. The yellow light illuminating it came from a dull lamp hanging from the ceiling. It was a cramped and crowded room, with boxes and lose odds and ends scattered around, a couple of small bags in the corner… and framed portraits of vulpines and vixens stood on every surface. Some crossed through with a red 'x' across their face.

"This guy must really have a hatred towards foxes," Judy commented, looking around at the faces. "The ones with the crosses through them, you think they've all been killed, or are just targets?"

The fox said nothing. The sight around him, it had frozen his capacity for thought. As though completely calm he gazed at the faces of the foxes around him. He stepped closer to one, looking intently upon in for several seconds.

"We can't sit on this one, Nicky. We've gotta tell Bogo. These mammals have to be found and _warned_ about this… this danger they're in."

Nick stepped to the next photo, pausing for a few moments, studying it fixedly under his jade gaze, before stepping aside to the next. He found Harry's, with a red cross over his face, and stepped on, his expression tightening, his lips twisting.

"A vendetta, Nick, that's what this is. Gonna have to get the criminal psychologists in on this one, if it's an obsessive disorder or from a traumatic experience or a religious motivation, or… damn it, damn it this isn't what I was expecting."

The fox came to the last of the portraits, which had fallen. His features a deep frown, frozen onto his muzzle, Nick reached down carefully and raised the photograph, the face that had been staring down upon the wooden crate raising, and looking into Nick's very heart.

Turning to the fox, her breaths short and edged with fear, the rabbit looked upon Nick's back, seeing him pick up a photograph, the face of which was obscured to her vision. She saw her partner's stance, though – saw his unmoving tail and his backwards-pointing ears, saw his whole body locked up, and knew the face he saw had hit him hard. "Julia?" she said, stepping towards the fox, flicking off the light attached to her pistol and slipping it into its holster. She put a paw on the fox's back, stepped around to his side, looked upon the face on the portrait in his paws, and her heart halted. "… _Nick?_ "

"Judy, this – all of this..." Wilde gazed slowly around the faces of the foxes around him, each of them looking back upon the fox in return, many with a wry air of superiority, and all with expressive, emerald eyes. "It's… my family."

Time stood still, the statement of harshest truth sinking slowly into the rabbit's mind. The meanings were deep and too complex to absorb, the reasons unknown to her beyond reconciliation. As the stated reality began to take shape in her mind, as how real the danger against them, how close it was, how uncoincidental Julia's involvement, the rabbit started to realise… the danger that they had uncovered.

The gun returned from her holster in the swiftest of draws, her mind a blaze of panic, the urge to protect overwhelming as she flicked on the light and shone it down into the dark bedroom beneath them. "Nick, wh-w-we, we gotta get you out of here, out of the city, anywhere, gotta get Bogo, tell Bogo about-" Her words slurred into sounds of fearful anxiety, her heart pounding a rhythm of frantic motivation to act into her mind.

The scent of the rabbit's anxiety flushing the air, the fox managed to pull himself from his frozen daze of disorientation. He had as minimal understanding the circumstances set in motion against them as Judy did; he did, however, realise that something…drastic, on his part, had to be done. For, against all the hate and disharmony between the logic of reality he lived by against their inter-subjective philosophies from the bygone, between the arguments and confutations, between the dissonance between him and his family in the years gone by… this _was_ a direct threat against his kind; this _was_ a personal attack, a grievance of murder, against him, against Julia, and against everyone he had once cared about.

"I'm calling Bogo," Judy said, "he'll probably be asleep right now but he's the only mammal with authority who'll take our word when we say we need backup right- _fluffing_ -now. I'm sure he'll be fine with it once he sees this."

"Judy. No."

"What? Nick, we need people here _right this second_ , to deal with this, we need twenty-four hour protection for you, we need your family warned and brought kin for questioning, and-"

"Judy. _Not yet_."

The rabbit's exasperated worryings slowed to a stop.

"I want answers, Judy; I want to know what the fluff is going on with this, and I want revenge for Julia. This needs to end, whatever it is, if you and I are ever gonna be able to feel safe again, we need to get this sorted. Not just solving the crime of who the killer is, but of everything underlying beneath it."

"Why does that stop us phoning the ZPD?"

"We have no idea how deep this goes, Judy. We're assuming one person, but we really can't be sure of that anymore. We need intel, cunning, not just police brutality and officers flooding the place. Sure they might be able to arrest one or two people, but, what if there's more? All they'd have to do is go into hiding for a few years, and they'd be able to reemerge and start picking us off again. And it might be me, or you, they target. There's only one guy I know of… who at least _might_ know what the heck is going on."

"Who?" breathed Judy, her mind buzzing with anxiety and concentration, insecurity roaming freely throughout her body.

"Look, Judy, if there's one thing I wished I'd never have to do… well, it's looking like I _am_ gonna have to… if I've got to get back in with that circus of medieval crazies to sort whatever the heck is going on out, I'm willing to do it. For Julia." The fox raised his phone to his face, thinking intently for a few moments before entering into the touchpad a number he had not dialled for over a decade. "I'm giving good ole Granddad a phone call. Old 'Reynard' Wilde."

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 _Hesitance jumps around your mind,  
Grooms decision thus chosen blind.  
Your thoughts most succulent of snack,  
All delivered by luscious feedback.  
So don't hide like a tiny shrew,  
Thus share that belovable review!_

\- _There has been some changes in the backgrounds of the unknowing known, behind the white page and words written hereupon. A partnership created with another author on this site, a bonding of elements to form something new. Projects of intrigue to be announced, of an unknown title and at an unknown time. Soonly though the new things come, brought together, beneath me and ' Markovas' (writer of An Act of Compassion) under the name of 'Inlet'. Its contact information present below..._

* * *

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End file.
